


The Judge [Prelude]

by solusprimes



Series: The Judge: An Undertale AU [1]
Category: Undertale (Video Game)
Genre: Aftermath of Violence, Alternate Timelines, Alternate Universe, American Politics, Amnesia, Angst with a Happy Ending, Anxiety Attacks, Asexual Character, Asexual Reader, Assassination, Attempted Undertale Genocide Run, Chara and Frisk Share a Body, Character Death, Complex Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - C-PTSD, Depression, Dissociation, Dreams, Emotional Hurt/Comfort, Emotional Manipulation, Established Relationship, False Identity, Family Issues, Good W. D. Gaster, Human/Monster War, Implied/Referenced Torture, Kidnapping, Magic, Memories, Mental Breakdown, Mind Manipulation, Multi, Multiverse, Murder, Nihilism, No Smut, Nonbinary Chara and Frisk, Nonbinary Character, POV Second Person, Politics, Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Post-Undertale Soulless Pacifist Route, Prophetic Visions, Reader is a Skeleton Monster, Reader-Insert, Repressed Memories, Sans Doesn't Remember Resets, Secret Identity, Self-Insert, Skeletons, The Void, Undertale Reset Issues, Violent Thoughts, Visions
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-06-25
Updated: 2019-05-09
Packaged: 2019-05-28 04:40:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence, Major Character Death
Chapters: 22
Words: 42,957
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15040928
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/solusprimes/pseuds/solusprimes
Summary: You were the first.King Asgore's judge, jury, and executioner.





	1. In Which Asgore Sees Skeleton Monsters for the First Time

The soul.

The very culmination of every being in the world, a representation of who you are and what you’ve done with your life. A human soul, is represented a color that tells one what their main personality trait is. There are seven colors, seven personalities: red **_(individuality)_** , orange _(bravery)_ , yellow _(justice)_ , green _(kindness)_ , cyan _(patience)_ , blue _(integrity)_ , and purple _(perseverance)_. But humans aren’t the only ones with souls. Monsters, beings born with the ability to control magic at their will, have white upside-down souls. Despite having the ability to wield magic, humans with their colored souls, were naturally stronger. So strong, that some humans became mages: humans who could wield magic as good as (if not, _better_ ) than monsters.

For two millenium monsters have always known that there were two types of souls: monster souls, and human souls. Humans had long forgotten their knowledge of magic and monsters, ancient spells and abilities lost when humans had sealed monsters underground.

But ever since they were sealed underground, even monsters have forgotten there are more souls out there. When a monster fuses souls with a human their souls become one, a monster soul filled with color. And although it was uncommon before the war (and before the monsters were sealed underground), some humans had more than one ‘core’ personality trait. Some humans had red and blue souls, orange and green, etc.

Monsters are only known to have white souls… Right?

_**SO WHY DID YOU HAVE A BLACK SOUl?** _

 

...

 

_**EBOTT** _

**_3134 P.W. (PRE-WAR)_ **

The Dreemurr royal family were a prestigious family of five monsters ( _goat_ monsters to be specific), who ruled in the north-eastern regions of what was known as the ‘Americas’. The king was a black-furred monster named Ragarus. He was a soft-spoken monster who wielded a spear made of magic and an ancient metal. The queen was a white-furred monster named Blisara. Ragarus and Blisara had three children, two of which were legible heirs. Parveus, who had the likeness of her father, and Arrius, who had the likeness of his mother.

The third child however, was a young child named Asgore: a white-furred monster with deep brown eyes and a soft-spoken mind. Being only a few hundred years old, he still had much to learn and see before being capable of being heir of the Dreemurr family (not only that, but his two siblings made it hard for him to actually _become_ king).

But Asgore had no qualms of becoming king, in fact the child had despised violence of any caliber. But that didn’t stop his father from bringing his family with him, who planned to travel overseas to a powerful empire (ruled by monsters) that was currently overrun by a war against humans. Thankfully, news of this war didn’t reach to the humans in the Dreemurr’s kingdom, humans were stronger despite many not being able to wield magic.

Asgore bounced gleefully with his father in the large purple hallways of the castle he spent every day in, messing with the small golden feathers on his clothing.

“Daddy, there’s more monsters across the ocean?” He asked, looking up at his father in wonder.

“Indeed, son,” Ragarus continued, “You’ve heard of skeletal monsters, yes?”

“Yes!” Asgore hopped in front of his father, his eyes practically turned into stars, “I remember mommy told me about them in fairy tales, do the really have a large garden in the castle?!”

“Yes they do.” Ragarus chuckled remembering his son’s fascination in botany and gardening, “But I can assure you that they are no fairy tale. They real as you and I. Has your mother ever shown you what they look like…?”

“No.” Asgore shook his head, “But at least I can see them when I go with you!”

“I hope that you are able to.” Ragarus hummed thoughtfully before a tight frown appeared, “After all, our visit will be short and quick. By now the Proxima Empire are already finished fighting.”

“Then why are we going over there?” Asgore asked. “Because,” Ragarus inhaled sharply, “Five days ago, grave news reached our kingdom regarding the war over there…”

 

“Ten members of the Proxima royal family were **_dusted_**.”

 

 

 

...

 

 

 

When their ship reached the shoreline, Asgore saw tall soldiers clad in spiky, obsidian black armor. Underneath the armor the young prince could see color, though each one seemed to have a different color - what did it mean? Some held swords, some held spears, but six of the soldiers in front all held flags.

The flag was a light gray on the outer left and right sides, with a thick stripe of black separating the light gray from the dark gray that filled the middle. In the center were three souls, two white human souls on the outside, and a black monster soul between them. A purple stripe helped bring out the black soul in the middle, with light gray triangles making a border in the middle. The flags swayed in unison with the wind, the soldiers never breaking their gaze towards the Dreemurr family. Compared to his father’s guard, Asgore noticed how similar in stature they all were (though he could see some that towered greatly above their comrades), in the center of their plackarts a white soul - the same one seen on the flag - was seen.

As they stepped onto the sandy beach, King Ragarus and Queen Blisara led the way alongside their own guards that bore the Delta Rune. Asgore and his two siblings followed behind, though the latter seemed to want to approach in front. The young prince bounded shyfully behind his father, grasping the light blue cape with hesitant paws, peeking over the hulking stature of Ragarus Dreemurr.

The soldiers in black, the ones holding the flags, seemed to wait for something - or someone - but Asgore saw that there was no one in the large space between the soldiers. So who were they waiting for…?

Suddenly, it seemed as if space was collapsing within on itself. Dark clouds swirled in a tornado like motion, quickening their space until the clouds closed in on itself. Without another sound three tall figures appeared from the smoke. In silent awe, Asgore watched with eager eyes - intrigued by their magic that ensnared everyone on the beach.

The figure in front was a tall lanky skeleton monster with black horns that spiraled up instead of down. They were clad in the same armor as the soldiers, but instead of color peeking underneath the armor, glimpses of gold glowed, matching their cape that flowed behind them. They had a scabbard placed on their left side, and pouches on the other. Instead of a white heart on their chest plate, a red monster soul seemed to glow brightly on their armor.

The skeleton monster gave a curt not to Asgore’s father, who nodded back, but when the monster turned their attention to him, the goat monster merely shrank back.

Their eye-sockets were dark, small white pinpricks the only indication of ‘eyes’ darted from King Ragarus, to Queen Blisara, and finally the three royal children. Their ‘mouth’ (though Asgore couldn’t tell what it was since he was staring at a skull) somehow was turned downwards, as if frowning.

Asgore took the silence as a moment to take a look at the other two figures.

The figure (the one standing right by the scary imposing monster) was like an exact copy of the first, except this one didn’t have horns and their armor was white instead of black like the others. Their cape was a bright yellow, matching the yellow soul on their armor. They had no scabbard, but they seemed to emit magic, their optics large and glowing a red instead of white.

The final figure was probably as tall as his sister Parveus, which was around 5’8’’, a pale white monster with no nose. Their eye-sockets were dark, with heterochromatic eye-lights. One was orange and the other one was a bright cyan. They wore a black cloak and dark purple armor (though compared to everyone else they didn’t have a soul on their armor). Their hands were clasped behind their back, giving them a pronounced and prideful walk.

Unbeknownst to Asgore this would be the royal scientist of his own kingdom.

The three monsters walked until they approached King Ragarus and Queen Blisara. The horned monster was the first to speak, a quiet feminine sound that seemed to surprise Asgore and his siblings.

“I apologize for the late entrance, but I was otherwise occupied by the human generals regarding their surrender. They were… troublesome…” They reached out their hand to King Ragarus, the ends of their phalanges sharp like talons (though not quite grotesque as Asgore thought).

“I, Empress Proxima Nova, welcome you to the Proxima Empire.”

 

...

 

_**READER POV** _

_**THIRTY MINUTES AGO** _

“Nova, look at me.”

Your eye-sockets were trained at the ten thrones that were unoccupied, teeth clenching and hands shaking, forcing back a wave of emotions that the whole kingdom would surely feel. On your left side Roman, your personal knight and guardian - the one whom you have trusted ever since you came into existence - placed a hand on your back, a solemn look on his skull.

“I know how hard it is.” Roman’s voice was calm and soothing, causing you to meet your gaze with his, you considered his words before nodding.

“It’s only been five days.” You muttered and leaned into him for an embrace. “It feels like an eternity. I wish I could just leave...”

Roman reached another arm around you, entwining your phalanges with his armored ones. You felt his soul reaching out to you, feeling concern and hope every second you checked his soul. It made you smile a bit, your eye-sockets losing their hard glare to turn to your knight. You leaned your skull so that it made contact with Roman’s pauldron, making sure that your horns didn’t get into his eye-sockets (a troublesome thing that you have to remember). It was a good thing that no one else was around to see you two like this; **_you_** , Empress of the Proxima Empire, holding hands with her royal knight.

“But you can see, can’t you?” Roman continued, “You saw what happened if you abandon this life.”

“Yes.” You replied with another word.

In one timeline, you fled the battlefield after watching your family turned to dust, causing the kingdom to fall and the humans to spread their war to the Dreemurr Kingdom. In another timeline, well… You reset it to the moment before the war even started, leading to no war - but a deep rift between monsters and humans. Timelines are hard to ignore when you want what’s best for your kingdom, even if that meant losing everything to ensure peace within the world.

You had the ability to see into other timelines, and although you had no idea what other versions of you were feeling. Knowing that your family was still alive in the other ones left an ache in your soul. _If only there was a timeline where humans weren’t so afraid of monsters._ You left your thoughts to stare at Roman and huffed quietly, untangling your phalanges from his to stand up, looking down at him. You felt a wave of souls arriving on the beach, it was time to greet King Ragarus Dreemurr and Queen Blisara Dreemurr, monarchs of a peaceful monster kingdom.

“Come, Roman.” You reached a hand out to which he gladly accepted, “It is time to greet King Dreemurr and his family. We have much to discuss with them and the human generals waiting in their tents.”

“Of course, Nova.” Roman took your hand and guided you two out of the throne room.

It didn’t take long for you two to be spotted, though, luckily by one who knew of your and Roman’s relationship. Before you two stood W.D. Gaster, your alchemist and advisor. Although you were more attuned to your magic, at least you had Gaster to actually explain how you were able to do what you were able to do; analyze and feel souls, see into other timelines, teleport.

“Hello Gaster,” You nodded, pushing away your grief for another time, “Are the troops already at the shore?”

“Yes, your majesty.” Gaster nodded and bowed slightly, you frowned.

“I already told you Gaster, please, I’m still Nova. No need for the formalities” Your other hand grasped Gaster’s shoulder, preparing to teleport.”

“I know.” The stubborn, young monster nodded, “But still… You have to remember that things are different now. You have monsters to rule over.”

“About that.” You muttered, “I’ll talk to King Dreemurr about that. For now, we have an audience to attend to.”

 

With that you and your two friends plunged into the Void.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	2. The Day You Gave Everything Up

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You, Ragarus, and Blisara catch up on life.  
> You try to listen to them, but their words will never ease the loss.

“At the moment, General Maximus and General Lucius are in their stations a few miles away from here.” You said to King Ragarus and Queen Blisara, glancing at the two goat monsters with judgmental eyes.

You had known Ragarus Dreemurr since he was a _kid_ , at that time were only a few thousand years old, a young child who was curious. You met him at a gala that your late father, King Proxima Lato, had hosted long ago. Ever since the two of you met, you were like brother and sister almost. Not to mention the fact that many monsters and humans alike thought that you were blood-related due to your horns.

Blisara, however, you _adored_ with every part of your soul. She was kind and sweet when you first met, which was actually _before_ you met Ragarus. She was previously part of your entourage, a young monster who you had trained to become a regal noblewoman. Eventually, you introduced your friend to Ragarus once you had become well-acquainted with the young Prince.

You were glad that they were still together after all these years, and it seems that their children were also well-behaved.

“That is fine with us.” Ragarus replied with a nod, following you, Roman, and Gaster back to the palace. “I hope you don’t mind that our stay will be prolonged. We want to be there for... the ceremony.”

Grimacing at his words you almost forgot that they were also here for your family’s passing ceremony. It was actually uncommon for monsters to dust away naturally. Monsters were, after - all, full of hope - and to lose that hope was a great loss for monsters. War, however…

War against _humans_ are one of the ways that monsters perish, humans are just too strong against monsters when it comes down to it.

“I appreciate your company, all of you.” You replied without turning around.

“Anything to help ease the pain.” Blisara quietly said from behind, a smile tried to return to your features…

 

It didn’t.

 

...

 

The Royal Palace of Karlo was a large castle built on a cliff that faced the Mediterranean. Named after your grandfather, King Proxima Karlo, the first ruler of the Proxima Empire - back when it was known as the _Kingdom of Skeletons_. But that name was long abandoned after your father had opened the empire to many types of monsters. This palace was home to all skeleton monsters.

Roman was at your side, no longer holding the comforting gaze, but now had the expression of a commander, eyes trained in front of him, and having a stance that seemed protective.

**_( For you. )_ **

Your army was walking behind in unison, the ones holding flags in front of you all.

After a few minutes of walking, you entered the village where monsters of all shapes and types glanced at you in hope and admiration ~~some looked at you in pity when they noticed that you were the only royal skeleton monster there~~ ~~.~~ You felt their souls resonating in unison, hope and magic filling the air, when they saw King Ragarus and Queen Blisara with their children. After waving and smiling at some, you had arrived past the palace gates, and into the castle. Your soldiers waited outside patiently.

“This is the Royal Palace of Karlo.” You stopped once you entered the palace’s large halls, turning to look at Roman, “Commander Roman, return to your troops to their stations.”

“Yes, your majesty.” Roman bowed, placing his right hand on his chest before departing, the sounds of armor clinking against each other before silence.

You gave the goat monsters a small smile, noticing how the youngest one was fascinated by you.

“Young princes, _princess_.” You gave Parveus an acknowledging nod, which she replied to with a shy smile, “Allow my advisor Sir Gaster to guide you to your rooms where you will be staying. Don’t worry, your mother and father will join you after I’m done talking with you.”

Gaster stepped forward, smiling at the young monarchs, Parveus and the young one (if you remembered correctly, his name was _Asgore_ ) easily walked towards your advisor. Arrius, however, looked a bit weary before joining his two siblings. You already knew why he was like this, it was a natural response after-all.

You would feel cautious too, if you saw a monster with _black magic_ such as yours.

Once the three young goat monsters left with Gaster, you turned to Blisara and Ragarus.

“We should… Take this conversation to the garden.” You continued, “May I…?”

You gestured to their paws to which they held out. You grasped them tightly and prepared to teleport, leaving a puff of black smoke behind.

When you felt the pull of the Void leave and the sight of flowers in a different array of color soothed you, you turned to your friends, both were a bit stunned by the change in gravity. They wobbled for a bit before giving you a patient smile.

“Please, take a seat you two.” You motioned over to the granite benches before taking a seat on one of them.

Ragarus and Blisara, despite being large monsters, managed to make room for each other, sitting side by side - and waited for you to continue.

“Tomorrow, Ragarus and I will go talk to General Maximus and General Lucius regarding their surrender. Blisara, would you be able to prepare the funeral ceremony with my assistants.?”

“Of course, dear.” Blisara agreed with a smile.

“Thank you.” Your eye-sockets closed, feeling relief at their words, “That’s all I needed to hear.”

"You're children will become amazing leaders." You continued quietly, "Their souls are kind and hopeful... Amazing leaders indeed."

"Thank you, Nova." Blisara chuckled, "We only taught them what _you_ taught us. I guess they learned from the best."

“So… How long have you and Roman been together?” Ragarus’s question made you open your eye-sockets quickly, pinpricks so tiny that it seemed as if your sockets were completely black. You let out an airy chuckle, clenching the granite bench that slightly cracked under your grasp.

“It seems that I can never hide anything from you two, can’t I?” You looked up at the two.

“I think it started before the war, when I had a breakdown at the gala after seeing so many people,” You admitted sheepishly with dreamy and nostalgic optics, “Roman was there to comfort me after being alone. I guess… It felt nice to have him by my side… I saw that letting be my knight would lead to… _this_.”

“You made the right choice.” Blisara gushed, “Do tell me when you two decide to start a family.”

You frowned, “You are aware of the risks I’m taking by doing that? I… I can’t take that risk.”

“...Sorry.” Blisara bowed her head, “I overstepped your boundaries on that one. No one wants to burden their child with _that_ responsibility.”

The three of you fell into a peaceful silence, watching the flowers sway with the ocean breeze. The sun passing over, causing the sky to turn from a pale orange, into a dark red. You turned to your friends, standing up, brushing your cape, making sure that the red fabric wasn’t ruined.

“Well, I believe it is time for you both to rest.”

“Yes… I bet the children were troublesome.” Ragarus mused with a chuckle, “Asgore would love to see this garden.”

“I can assure you that he will get the chance to see after we take care of everything.”

After guiding them to their room, you returned to the garden, jumping into the embrace of Roman and went to tell each other about your day. Your SOUL felt oddly relaxed for once, these past few days were chaotic and it was nice to see a familiar face.

 

...

 

The following morning you had to go to the stables and prepare your steeds for the short journey. After requesting ten steeds (since you weren't sure how many captains Ragarus would bring) you returned to your chambers and changed your attire. You were clad in white armor instead of your normal black one, giving your bones an almost ethereal white glow when you stood under the sun.

Turning around you exited your changing quarters and met with Roman, who waited patiently by your door, giving you a smile.

“You look lovely, _your majesty_.” You lightly slapped his armored shoulder.

“You flatter me to much, Roman.” He crossed elbows with your own.

“Anything for my royal highness.”

Teleporting, you and Roman greeted Ragarus in the front of the palace, unlocking your arms with your knight. You and Ragarus bowed to each other in respect. Beside Ragarus were two lizard monsters clad in light gray armor, one with green scales and the other with gray-blue scales. Both held long swords that curved. Their souls told you that they were excellent soldiers and twins who deeply cared about their King’s kingdom.

Good soldiers prepared for a time of war that may never come.

“Commander Roman, I’d like to introduce you to my two best warriors: Commander Thrax and Captain Jax.” Roman stepped forward to give the two lizards a curt nod.

Thrax, the gray one, approached Roman with eager eyes.

“Commander Roman, I heard that you led the Battle of Ariessss.” Thrax said, yellow irises gleaming.

“Indeed.” You watched Roman nod.

“We heard that it wassss a valiant fight.” Jax nodded, acknowledging your knight with an admiring gaze.

While the three soldiers talked to one another, you turned to Ragarus.

“King Ragarus,” You crossed your hands together, “Are you ready to depart to the Rome Stronghold?”

“Yes,” Ragarus nodded and reached out a paw, expecting for you to take it and teleport you to the designated.

You shook your skull with a chuckle.

“No need for that, your majesty.” You waved a dismissing hand, “General Maximus specifically requested that we don’t use magic in the Stronghold, that includes my ways of… _entering_ as well. Come. Commander, captains, your majesty, follow me to the stables.”

You, Ragarus, Roman, and the two serpent twins made your way through the palace halls and into the stables where you were greeted by a deer monster with white fur. You nodded and the deer monster, if you recalled correctly his name was Oakfern, left to retrieve your rides.

After a few minutes the sounds of hooves against stable grass became prominent with each step, and Oakfern returned with five skeleton horses with obsidian saddles. You turned around and motioned to the horses, walking towards one with crystal forehead chains. Hopping on top of her, you waited until the other monsters adjusted to their skeletons.

“Ready?” You asked, and the others nodded.

“Alright… Varela, go!” You tapped the neck of your steed, who huffed out turning her head making whistling noises at the other steeds.

Varela took off with the other four steeds following behind, rushing out of the castle, past the gate and into the grassy plains towards the Rome Stronghold. After a few minutes Roman’s steed caught up with you, turning your head you gave him a smile before turning forward. Rushing past battlefields, old ruins of trees and weapons skewered into the dirt after weeks of being forgotten. Soon after, in the distance, you saw red flags in the distance, small tents made of royal satin. Smoke in the air, the sounds of people chatting, blade against blade echoing from heavy training.

You’ve arrived, this was it.

This was the Rome Stronghold.

Patting Varela’s skull, she slowed down until she came to a simple trot, making sure that Ragarus, Thrax, and Jax were faring well with the trip. Many monsters weren’t used to the speeds of your Royal Steeds, if they were given the chance to see it.

Humans from all directions stopped their actions to watch all five of you, many giving your scornful and hateful looks. Some, in spite of your appearance, even brandished their weapons as a warning to back off. If you had eyes you would roll them so many times that they would fall into your skull. The war was over, and even your hard-headed soldiers got past what happened.

However, it seemed that humans will always hold grudges.

Finally you stopped when you reached a large red tent with the sigil of the humans you fought against. The five of you unmounted and made your way inside the tent.

The inside was lit by candlelight, small flames dancing in the dark. There were swords and spears scattered everywhere, ancient scrolls worn from battle. There was a large table with a map of your empire and their stronghold pinned on top of it. Across from the table, sitting in chairs with their hands crossed respectively, were the human generals: Maximus Virius Amandus and Lucius Cassius Surius.

Maximus was a balding man with a crooked nose but angular features, he was a fair-skinned man; clad in armor and a red cape. Lucius was an olive-skinned man with short curly hair, patches of white spots dotting underneath his eyes and across the bridge of his nose.

Roman, Thrax, and Jax stood by the entrance of the tent, intently watching each and every movement of the generals. Despite their wishes, you took a look at Maximus and Lucius’s souls: their hardened gazes couldn’t fool you.

They were _scared_ of you.

Ragarus stood beside you, his cape hiding his body, giving the dark-furred monster an imposing stature. You stepped forward placing your hands on the table, leaning down so that your gaze was parallel to the humans’.

“So, shall we discuss the conditions regarding your surrender…?”

 

...

 

Talking to the generals was actually pretty easy from your point of view, with the humans - despite their grudge against you - agreeing with your points. Politics were simple when it came down to war, it was something your father taught you about in many of your lessons back when you were a child. If there was a problem, you would find a way to resolve it with your words. You didn’t need to rely on magic for people to listen to you.

Like clockwork you were able to come to an agreement with Maximus and Lucius.

Ragarus was impressed by your ability to keep a straight face while passionately explaining what you believed what was best for your people, and what was best for the humans.

“I know that you humans are afraid of us,” You started, continuing before Maximus could interject at your assumption, “Which is why I will willingly give you all of my land, my empire. Additionally, my people will fall under the rule of King Ragarus Dreemurr. I will simply join his kingdom as military assistance. You both will have the opportunity to take every piece of land that I am offering you.”

Now Lucius seemed intrigued by your proposition.

“How will we know that you can keep your word?” The man asked, narrowing his eyes, “What if you turn on us?”

“I can ask you the same thing, _general_.” You huffed, turning your head, “But I can assure you, before the moon is full, my people will leave this land forever. You can build your armies, your empires. All I ask, is that my people will be able to _leave_.”

“You have a deal.” Lucius said jumping forward, his soul giving off feelings of relief and security when he approached you, bowing his head.

Maximus, however, simply nodded along with his partner, a sour look on his face.

You turned to Ragarus, who was silent - digesting your words with every grain of salt - he looked confused, shocked even. When you turned around Roman also looked surprised at your proposition. When all was done you and your affiliates mounted on your steeds, and returned back to your palace. The ride was silent, you ignored their souls shivering in confusion.

 _Why did you give up your_ **_empire?_**

To Thrax and Jax they felt as if _you_ were the one who had surrendered to the humans, giving up your land to flee to the Dreemurr Kingdom? When you returned to the palace, you left to your chambers, preparing for the funeral ceremony that would happen the next day. Roman stopped to glance at the door that led to your chambers, looking at it in confusion.

If only he could see what was in store for the timeline if it caused you to give up your empire and flee across the ocean.

What was it like to know that your every action could lead to a completely different future? His soul called out to you, hoping that you would respond and answer his questions. But you only ignored his calls, wondering what you had just done.

 

...

 

The next morning you sent out a message to your empire, telling of your plans for the future.

Within two months the Proxmia Empire was a barren place, humans began to expand their empires without your empire's looming presence, no monster had continued to live on your spread of land.

 

**_And they never will._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	3. War Doesn't Discriminate Between the Sinners and the Saints

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It takes and it takes and it takes.

Thousands of years had passed since the war between humans and the Proxima Empire. You were merely a young skeleton monster when the war started, though one couldn’t possibly imagine 10,054 to be _young_. Ever since you and your monsters fled across the ocean to join King Ragarus’s kingdom, peace between humans and monsters was finally restored. It was mildly confusing for your people that you would give up your crown, you had everything - so why did you give it up?

The simple truth was, you didn’t _want_ to rule.

The crown, the war, the hardships that you had to go through just to receive that title. It was too much and too fast. Luckily, Blisara and Ragarus didn’t react negatively to your proposition, instead they were glad to accept more monsters into their kingdom. Many of your monsters were still saddened by the deaths of your family members, but eventually after five hundred years passed, it was all in the past.

W.D. Gaster, your former alchemist, decided to work for Ragarus; helping him explain your abilities and the true extent of it. Then suddenly, the goat monster came to a realization after Gaster explained how your soul-reading abilities worked. You had a new purpose ever since Ragarus handed you the light grey armor with the Delta Rune inscribed on it.

When you stepped into the golden halls, your king and queen behind you, a royal purple cape swaying behind you; you became a new monster.

You were Proxima Nova: former supreme leader of the Proxima Empire, Commander of the Royal Skeleton Army, Daughter of the late Emperor Proxima Lato...

King Ragarus’s judge, jury, and executioner.

 

...

 

**_EBOTT_ **

**_1906_ **

Those few hundreds of years were nothing but an illusion to you now. War was between monsters and humans once more, with King Asgore Dreemurr - the young prince who you had guided to become a promising young monarch - leading the army. Beside his side was Queen Toriel, a goat monster who was apart of your empire, and moved to the Dreemurr Kingdom.

Fortunately Roman was by your side after all these years, and the two of you became so close that you eventually _bonded_ souls. A sacred process that proved ones undying love for another.

 

…

 

You could see flames in the distance, a sight all too familiar for you.

Mounted on Varela, you watched as monsters used every amount of energy they had to defeat the monsters, but to no avail. On the humans side, they had mages - seven in fact - which was a deadly combination, especially since that humans were naturally born with DETERMINATION in their souls. You could feel their souls.

And they were _very_ determined.

Roman joined you, turning to you for guidance.

“The troops are awaiting your command, your majesty.” He said, taking your hand into his, “The humans near the throne room are becoming troublesome.”

“King Asgore has already decided to flee the castle, we will buy them time buy stalling.” You replied and turned Varela so that she would trot back to the castle, “We must hurry, those humans are determined.”

“I will, your majesty.” Roman then grabbed the back of your skull and clanked your forehead with his, staring into your eye-sockets, “Stay safe, your majesty.”

“Don’t worry about me,” You gave him a bittersweet smile, “I love you.”

You returned to the castle before he could reply.

 

...

 

A plethora of bones rose from the judgement hall’s floors, startling the humans that were trying to seize the castle. The sounds of hooves against tiles made them turn their attention to you - who quickly killed them before they could tell the others of your arrival. Jumping off of Varela you summoned your **_undertakers_** , letting them roam the castle to dismantle the humans weapons and bulkier soldiers. Bright beams of light emitting from their skulls to evaporate everything in their sight.

It was total chaos, watching as old allies from your father’s regime turn to dust, friends that you’ve made over the years losing hope with each passing minute. Bones, arrows, and magical bullets broke through the judgement hall’s stained windows, some embedded into the yellow columns. All the while you were fighting, giving it your all you couldn’t help but think about the future. Weighing out your options, hoping that there was some way for you to resolve everything without someone **important** to you turning to _dust_.

If you saved Roman, then King Asgore and Queen Toriel would end up turning into dust after being ambushed - you wouldn’t be there to protect them.

If you tried to bring Roman with you to protect your king and queen, then a majority of Asgore’s people would turn to dust.

If you sacrificed _yourself_ instead of Roman, then he would be left on the surface alone - dying after protecting the King and Queen.

So many decisions and you had to pick the one that would ensure the future of monsters, not _your_ future. You saw how this timeline would end if King Asgore and Queen Toriel lived, and for a moment you felt as if you wanted to _go back_ . Maybe if you did something to prevent those humans who decided to wage war, _maybe_ the timeline would’ve changed. Unfortunately, you would have to stay and protect your monsters. _A good timeline is better than a corrupted one,_ your father told you once before.

You were prepared to FIGHT, teleporting over to the King and Queen, pushing a wall of bones up to protect them from the onslaught of spears and arrows. You turned around and pointed to the mountain.

“Go! I will hold them off!” You yelled at the two goat monsters.

They nodded without a second thought, retreating into the mouth of the mountain, their monsters following behind with battered looks - hope gone from their eyes - bathed in a reddish brown hue from the battlefield. You turned back and lifted a hand up, another wall of bones shielding you from a powerful beam of magic that glowed a bright red hue. A frown appeared on your skull, discarding your purple cape that was now tattered and burned.

The mages were getting closer and closer with each passing second. You could feel their souls thrumming in unison, magic flowing through their veins and souls. For a moment you thought that you were feeling monster souls instead of human ones. Their magic was strong.

~~**_Too strong._ ** ~~

Soon enough you saw six mages approaching. Despite being very different they all had one thing in common: they were DETERMINED.

The first one on the left was an olive-skinned boy (probably no older than nineteen) with dark blue magic, a bow and arrow in hand that emitted said magic. Beside him was a fair-skinned woman with a glaive in each hand, both made of purple crystal-like magic. Her eyes gleamed at you, sure that she will be able to overcome the challenge that was you. To the right of her was another girl, this time with thick black curls and amber eyes. There was nothing in her hands, but she did emit bright orange flames from them. To the amber-eyed girl’s right stood a man with bright green eyes, holding a mace.

Standing in front of them, was the leader of the humans: a human with fair skin and brown hair that was styled into a bob, their bangs covering their eyes. In their hand was a spear, crafted in a way that reminded you of the late King Ragarus. Their lips were drawn into a thin line, twirling their spear as they approached you, the other five mages following behind.

Wait, there were only six mages...?

You swore on your soul that you remembered feeling seven souls. Shaking off the uneasiness you summoned your _undertakers,_ watching as they assembled from the void - their eye-sockets filling in with white pinpricks of light. You walked forward until you were a few feet from the red mage, your undertakers loyally following you.

“You are standing before Proxima Nova: judge, jury, and executioner of the Dreemurr Kingdom. If you wish to leave with your lives, I suggest that you end this now.” Your voice was prominent, thundering against the roaring flames.

Yet, their silence spoke volumes.

“Very well.” You pushed one arm out, allowing your undertakers to fly forward and attack.

The mages responded by firing at you with everything you got, going nose to nasal bone against the red mage. Blocking all attacks from their spear with your gauntlets. You were able to dodge most of them, but took fatal blows now and then, deep gashes and cracks appearing on your bones whenever the mages got _too_ close to you.

You were starting to get tired once the red mage wouldn’t stop ramming their spear at you. You searched for Asgore’s soul, realizing that they were now in the mountain. But who were you missing…? Gaster was with the others, so why did you feel as if your soul was quivering? Then it hit you harder than the spear that was jammed through your left eye-socket.

“Roman.” You muttered.

Your good eye-socket gared at the red mage who glanced at you without a second thought. They pulled their spear from your skull as cracks echoed in the silent forest, the other mages stood back, waiting for the red mage to make their next command. At that moment you felt a sharp pain in your soul, struggling to focus as you felt your other half struggle to stay solid. It was horrifyingly similar to when you felt those mages dust every single member of your royal family those many years ago.

You forced your undertakers to return to the Void, feeling your magic drain. Allowing your eye-sockets to go dark (which was not a reliable way for one to know if you were conscious) you fell limp, silently watching as the mages follow where Asgore and the others fled into the mountain. When the mages’ souls felt faint, you hastily ran down the mountain, rushing past the burnt trees.

There was dust and blood _everywhere,_ it hard to tell the difference between allies and foes, on the battlefield when they had fallen down: they all looked the same. Solemnly you shook your head and looked for the pulse of your soulmate.

~~**_(Your majesty.)_ ** ~~

Finally you felt the pull and rushed forward, cursing as you limped with impaired vision and health so low that you felt like your sisters’ training dummies. You saw a mage in yellow holding a scythe, proudly standing over the trembling form of Roman - who wore a large gash that stretched from his sternum, to his hip bone. In anguish you hurled long bones at the mage, effectively impaling them, not caring if their death would alert the other mages.

You kneeled down to Roman, supporting his back with your hand, standing at him with half a skull, you chuckled in faux amusement - as if you didn’t want to believe what you were seeing.

“Roman, you can’t…” You pet his skull gently, “...Not here...”

He looked up at you, a grin on his skull, reaching a hand up to intertwine your phalanges with his own. For once you finally had time for each other, though not in the way you imagined it to happen.

“You worry too much,” He looked down, “I’ll be fine.”

“Don’t leave me!” You screamed as you clutched his form tighter, ignoring the noise of his bones rattling - some turning to dust. You calmed down, murmuring into his shoulder, “...I don’t want to be alone, Roman…”

“You need to go with the others,” Roman whispered, “I don’t want you to be alone because of me.”

“I won’t leave you side,” You replied stubbornly, “Even if that means that I have to stay aboveground. I won’t let you turn to dust alone.”

Roman didn’t say anything more, allowing you to close your eye-sockets and cradle your soulmate close. This was a close as the two of you were going to get before he would turn to dust. One moment you clutching Roman close to you, and in the next moment your armor was coated in dust. _Feeling_ the soul-shattering pain yet you didn’t flinch, in fact that only made you clutch tighter onto yourself. Your phalanges were covered in dust, your _beloved’s_ **dust**.

Once more you were the only one on the battlefield.

For once you wished that the Void would pull you back into its inky black abyss, to join your fellow skeletons into where you came from. Suddenly you felt an immense weight on your soul, knowing the fate of monsters now that the mages would’ve reached the monsters by now, knowing that you were _here_ instead of there to prevent what was going to happen.

You turned around on your knees looking up at the tall mountain that loomed over everything, watching and waiting. There was a bright light from the entrance from the cave, colors ranging from red, orange,green, cyan, blue, and purple poured out of the mouth of the mountain until all was still.

You didn’t feel the thrum of monster souls anymore...

 

Only your own.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	4. Unshakable Guilt and a Lonesome Future

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> So many have years have passed since the war and the barrier.  
> You have seen too much, and experienced too little.
> 
> Regret hangs over your SOUL like a shadow.

**_EBOTT CITY_ **

**_JULY 15TH, 2173_ **

If there was one thing you hated about living in the woods, was that each morning you had to watch the sunrise, knowing that the mountain behind reminded you of all of your mistakes and losses. You hated looking at that mountain everyday, yet you couldn’t bear to live anywhere else on the planet. Everywhere you traveled you felt as if your own soul was suffocating you, the feeling of human souls empowering your own. Eventually after the first fifty years you got used to humans moving into the ruins of the Dreemurr Kingdom.

You realized that humans wanted _nothing_ to do with monsters when the six mages looked for every magical scroll and novel that included information about monsters and SOULs. When you finally healed your wounds, you watched from afar as the mages burned and destroyed every single trace of monsters from the world. You were only able to save _some_ novels, mainly about basic magic and core knowledge about SOULs that many people already knew about.

Something that humans impressed you with, was their ability to advance and create technology that could potentially rival magic. You didn’t think that was a good thing for monsters but it did seem interesting that a simple species could advance so much within the span of a hundred years. Maybe it had something to do with the disappearance of monsters, maybe humans were finally discovering themselves.

You eventually found a spell on how to disguise yourself, simple magic that required a lot of energy. It only made sense, right? To become ‘human’ in order to hide from humans. You didn’t even bother to change your human appearance throughout the decades. It wasn’t like the humans were going to figure out who you were, right?

Five of the seven mages died of old age, while the red mage died _much_ earlier than their allies. Twenty years after the war the red mage mysteriously disappeared after visiting Mt. Ebott., where they never returned. The yellow mage, well… After they created the barrier that sealed the monsters, they found their fallen ally - impaled by bones that rose from the ground. Some of Roman’s dust was left on the battlefield, they must’ve thought that was your dust and never bothered to look for you.

Around the year 2012 you watched as the great-grandchild of the red mage entered the mountain, not knowing what they were getting themselves into. You thought that you would never see them again, glad that the red mage’s was finally taken care of. But you were there when you saw another monster, entering the village with the fallen child in his arms.

It had been a while since you had seen a goat monster at the time, too stunned to help the monster against the onslaught of arrows that attacked him. You felt his SOUL, its power enhanced by that of a human SOUL, was that how he crossed the barrier? After sitting down on a patch of buttercups, the monster returned to the mountain, not caring if he was losing health.

After the monster returned back into the mountain, you hid in your home for a few months, not even bothering to interact with the villagers.

The guilt of not helping that monster would stay with you forever.

 

 

...

 

 

“[______]!... Ugh, **_[______]!”_ ** A voice yelled in your ear, screaming out the same name over and over, startled you pushed the body that lurched over yours, hearing a grunt and the sound of a body hitting the… grass?

You turned your head and saw that it was only Jessica, a human who you had learned to become acquaintances with, though she always bothered to call you two friends. You gave her an apologetic smile, patting down the empty spot beside you.

“I’m sorry,” You shrugged, “Was I spacing out again?”

“Yeah duh!” Jessica giggled, “Maybe it’s because you’re always up in those mountains, all that isolation is messing with you.”

“You’re probably right…” You muttered but glanced down at her with a smile, “Aww… Is Jessica worried about a person like me?”

“You’re my friend, [______], of course I’m worried.” Jessica looked off into the distance, watching as kids ran around the playground, the park was always busiest this time around.

_Beep-beep-beep!_

You looked down at your watch. **_2:30._ ** It was time to return back to the mountain, back to the place you called home. You hopped off the bench, legs wobbly from the blood that suddenly rushed down your veins. How long had you been at the park with Jessica?

“Well, it’s time for me to head back home.” You motioned over to your motorcycle with your thumb, “You need a ride back home, Jess?”

“Sure, [______]!” She also hopped off the bench, and the two of you made your way to your motorcycle, Jess whistled at the sleek form of the motorcycle.

“You’ve ever picked up girls with this thing? Guys?” Jessica asked curiously, you shook your head.

“Nope.” Then a mischievous grin found its way onto your face, “Well, I guess _you_ count. You want me to _ride_ my way into your heart?”

Jessica snorted as you handed her your helmet, “Wow, that was bad.”

“But you still laughed.” You turned on the motorcycle’s engine, letting Jessica sit behind you, “You wanna hold on, or are you good?”

“I’m fine, let’s go!” Jessica laughed.

Driving out of the parking lot, you left the park, making your way through Ebott City (you found it hard to believe that even the mages, when they founded this city long ago, had the naming skills of King Asgore). Behind you Jessica screamed out of excitement, wrapping her arms around your torso when you drove a little faster. For once you pushed aside your grudges against humanity to enjoy the moment.

Dropping off Jessica at the _Maple Oaks Apartment Complex_ you gave your friend a wave before driving to the opposite direction: to _Mt. Ebott._ Before handing your helmet back to you she muttered something about inviting you to a bar - which you opposed to. Taking a detour you drove past small shops and took a path that led straight towards the mountain. Winding around the tricky paths and thick forest you finally spotted a large mansion in a small clearing.

Slowing down your speed, you turned off the motorcycle’s engine and hopped off, twirling the keys with your index finger, unlocking the door and in the safety of your home you lazily trudged towards the living room. Tossing the motorcycle helmet on a table nearby you plopped down on your black couch and closed your eyes.

You were getting tired of doing the same routine every day.

Taking a deep breath you released the magic that gave you your human appearance. Feeling a bit lighter you looked down at your phalanges, clenching and unclenching them, then at your clothes - which were still intact. At least when you returned back into your old form the clothes didn’t rip or tear at your tall physique.

Your long legs dangled over the arm of the couch, arms resting behind your head you used your magic to turn on the television, wondering what crazy news was going to appear now.

**_“The President will be-”_ **

**_“-World leaders are now-”_ **

**_“Crime is slowly rising-”_ **

**_“Child Disappears from Home: Still Missing.”_ **

Now _that_ headline caught your attention, turning your skull you looked at the news reporter to spoke about a child named ‘Maria Vera’ who had gone missing last week. Beside the news reporter was a photograph of the child holding hands with her grandfather. The child had olive skin and brown hair that was cut into a bob, with bangs almost covering their eyes. Their eyes were completely closed and their lips were drawn into a thin line.

**_They reminded you of the red mage._ **

The child wore a blue sweater with two purple stripes that wrapped around the torso of the sweater. They had dark blue jeans and brown boots.

You didn’t know why, but you had a feeling where the child went.

They were the eighth child to have fallen down into the mountain. You were surprised upon  hearing that this child went missing, the last child had fallen down one hundred years ago, and you thought that the seventh would be the last one. It seems that you were wrong. But it didn’t matter, the children who had fallen down in the mountain usually never returned.

This child would probably not return, also.

_Bzzt! Bzzt!_

You reached for the phone in your pant pocket, the screen illuminating your features.

 

**_From Jessica to [______], 3:02 p.m._ **

U wanna come with me to clever coffee? Darryl, Susie, and Sam will be there.

 

**_From [______] to Jessica, 3:07 p.m._ **

No, I’m busy, sorry.

 

**_From [______] to Jessica, 3:07 p.m._ **

…

You know I don’t drink, right Jessica?

 

**_From Jessica to [______], 3:08 p.m._ **

kk, but u better take me to that nightclub u were talking about

the Helix, yeah?

…

TTYL [______]!

With that you tossed your phone next to your motorcycle helmet, closing your eye-sockets. Yeah, you needed a well-deserved nap. Crossing your bony arms you found it difficult to find a comfortable position (another reason why you should’ve shaved your horns down), finally you just stuck to laying on your back, staring at the white ceiling.

With the news continuing on you closed your eyes and fell asleep.

  
  


...

  
  


_You were standing at the entrance of Mt. Ebott’s cave._

_Your shadow loomed in front of you, sunlight on your back. There were voices, some laughing, making you turn around - your SOUL froze at the sight. Although the sun was was making it hard for you to see them, but you were_ **_sure_ ** _that you weren’t hallucinating. You could feel their SOULs,_ **_MONSTER SOULs_** _, thrumming with joy and relief._

_You could make out the forms of two goat monsters, and on your SOUL you swore that you were looking at Asgore and Toriel. There was a fish-like monster with blue scales standing next to a short lizard monster with yellow scales. Beside the blue-scaled monster stood… Wait…_

**_Two_ ** _skeletons?_

 _Intrigued you tried to hear their words, but all sounds came together as if you were underwater, hearing only warbled noises. Beside who you assumed as Toriel, it was hard to_ **_not_ ** _recognize her motherly and professional stance was a child, specifically the child that went missing last week. Their eyes were still closed, but they had a wide grin on their face. When you looked to stare at the human’s SOUL, you paused and frowned._

_They felt happy, yet… Guilty?_

_Their SOUL felt distanced, as if they were pondering on something. Their LV was at 1, yet their SOUL felt as if they’ve killed once before. But one thing was for sure… They were DETERMINED._

_How strange, it was rare for you to find DETERMINED humans…_

_You watched as one by one the monsters made their way down the mountain, Toriel and the child were the only two who watched the sun rise. They shared a few words before Toriel took the child’s hand, guiding them down the mountain._

_You stood stood alone on the mountain, watching as the sun rose higher and higher. Hearing voices from behind you turned around,_ **_more monsters!_ ** _Monsters that you haven’t seen in a long time, and some monsters that you’ve never even met before flooded out of the cave’s mouth, the hope from their SOULs bombarding yours. One by one they left the mountain._

_You remerbered something, if this was apart of the timeline, did this mean that the monsters would be free…? Will you finally be able to see your friends experience life on the surface…?_

  
  


_..._

  
  


For the first time in two hundred years, you fell asleep with hope in your SOUL.

Meanwhile at the base of the mountain Frisk and their friends began to walk through the forest, passing by the dense trees until they found a clearing. Holding Toriel’s hand, they looked up at her, hope in their reddish-brown eyes.

“My child, what is it?” Toriel asked with a smile on her snout.

“Nothing, mom!” Frisk replied cheerfully, “Just thinking how happy everyone will be.”

Toriel laughed and continued to walk, Frisk following them.

The future was looking good for monsters.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	5. Protests, Peace, and Progress

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Everyone's going crazy over monsters being real.  
> You finally see your king after two hundred years of separation.
> 
> \---
> 
> ALSO 100+ HITS???  
> THANK YOU GUYS SO MUCH AAAAA <3

When you woke up the first thing that came to your mind was _the vision_. Once more, hope filled your SOUL with water, drowning you in happiness. You sat up from the couch and rubbed your cranium. You haven’t felt this happy since the day you and Roman had bonded souls… Ah Roman, if only he could see your joy now.

_Bzzt! Bzzt!_

You grabbed your phone and saw several messages from different people:

 

**_From Jessica to [______], 5:53 a.m._ **

dude,,,, turn on the tv u need to see this

 

**_From Jessica to [______], 5:53 a.m._ **

[______]? c’mon wake up, u rlly need to see the news

 

**_From Helen to [______], 6:22 a.m._ **

Hey, did you see the news? Apparently monsters started coming out of the mountain you live next to.

Stay safe and stay tuned for more news, okay?

 

**_From Mick to [______], 6:45 a.m._ **

Yo did u hear? monsters are REAL!!!!

 

**_From Mick to [______], Jessica, Sam, Darryl, and Susie, 6:48 a.m._ **

If u guys saw the news i gotta tell u something… i think its a hoax

 

Clenching the phone, those texts only made your SOUL resonate even more, your vision: it came true! Looking at your tv, which was somehow on a music channel now, you changed channels until you found a news reporting one. The headline was all you needed to see before changing into your human appearance - your cheeks stretching out in a wide smile. You looked at the tv, seeing how a helicopter shot a view of humans who were standing in front of a gate, shouting.

Behind the gate were several military jeeps and trucks, a few soldiers standing as sentry at the entrance of the gate. You watched at the helicopter then recorded several tents. You had a feeling where the monsters were at.

 **“Park Ranger Reese Jones was patrolling Mt. Ebott this morning and said saw the monsters coming towards him,”** The female reporter nodded her head, **“We actually have Reese on this broadcast right now—Reese what did you think when you saw them?”**

 **_“Oh my God I was scared fer my life!”_ ** A man’s voice crackled over the tv, the woman nodded along, **_“The first thing I did was call the damn police!”_ **

**“Mhm, so what-”** The reporter’s voice was cut off by the man.

 **_“The_ ** **_things_ ** **_t a l k e d   to me!”_ ** Reese yelled over the phone, causing you to lower the volume on your television, **_“They talked to me as if they knew_ ** **_how_ ** **_to!”_ **

You turned off the tv at that point, a frown coming to your features. You thought that the monsters would be welcomed warmly but from that man’s reaction and the people who crowded around the gate, it seems that monsters have a _long_ way to go before their welcome can be a ‘warm’ one. Humans will never stop being afraid.

Placing your phone in your pocket and your helmet on your head, you decided to ride down to the base of Mt. Ebott (since you had only lived on the smaller mountains that made up the towering mammoth of land). There you passed cars, noticing how more humans were making their way towards the gate. It was crowded and when you stopped your motorcycle and placed your helmet off of your head you finally saw how chaotic it was. People already made signs that said **‘DEATH TO MONSTERS’** or **‘PUT THEM BACK IN THE MOUNTAIN’**. You felt anger piercing your SOUL but shrugged it off.

No need to make a scene.

Joining the crowd you stood closest to the gate, silent as you watched the tents. Finally a few soldiers with black sunglasses walked out of the largest tent, followed by men in suits - who were also wearing sunglasses. Behind the bulky men another man, who was easily recognized as he was the _President_ , walked out the tent. After a few minutes a monster you haven’t seen since the war also exited the tent.

**_Asgore Dreemurr._ **

While you were gushing up in excitement, holding yourself back from pushing past the humans, the protesting crowd became louder. Some yelling and screaming out in fear, a woman cried out:

**_“It’s got the devil’s horns!"_**

Another one yelled: **_“Demon! Go back into the mountain!”_ **

Asgore’s expression turned sorrowful, looking at the humans apologetically. Your fists clenched, trying to ignore the yells and protests that got louder and louder but to no avail… You were going to blow a _fuse_. The President, who spoke a few words to the crowd up front, allowed Asgore to step towards the protestors: his snout turning upwards in a smile. As soon as Asgore’s words were drowned out by the shouts you hugged in frustration and yelled out loud:

**_“SILENCE!”_ **

The humans around you turned to you, within themselves you could feel their SOULs tremble at your booming voice. You met Asgore’s eyes who seemed to study you, his gaze looking as if he recognized your booming voice. If he had a feeling that he recognized you, he _really_ didn’t hide it well. You stood your ground, never quivering at the humans who glared at you. Asgore regained his composure, finally able to speak without interruptions.

“Greetings, my name is Asgore Dreemurr, King of Monsters.” He put his paws up, “I’m sure that our presence has startled you all but I _assure_ you: we have no ill intentions against mankind.”

“Which is why we will allow monsters to live peacefully near the mountain,” President Charlie Miller continued for the monster king, “If their transfer is successful and there are no mishaps, then possibly in the near future we will grant them citizenship.”

Another uproar of shouts and yells continued, trying to urge answers out of the President but he only turned around and walked back into the tent with Asgore, his escorts and bodyguards following him. Before he turned around to leave Asgore looked back at you, a pensive expression on his face. He shook it off and followed the President, soldiers started to walk towards the crowd now, ushering them away from the gate.

Although your patience was running thin—you **_really_ ** needed to see more monsters to ease your SOUL—you returned to your motorcycle and returned to your mansion where you watched the television, talk shows and reporting stations talking non-stop about the President’s idea. Unfortunately your mood wasn’t so well after watching a few channels.

The camera just so happened to record _you_ during your outburst, so you were probably going to get attention - positive _and_ negative. As much as you hated admitting it, humans were able of having compassion. Hopefully those who had that compassion came out in support for the monsters. Another thing was also on your mind since you returned back home: _Asgore recognized your voice_. Then again you were in your human form, so he would probably shrug you off, you were just another human, right?

The entrance to where the monsters would be residing was closed off, making it impossible for you and others to enter. That also meant that monsters couldn’t leave the area until their ‘citizenship’ was granted. You could only wait as the days passed on, seeing news about how monsters were progressing now and then.

Your patience was running thin.

 

...

 

**_JANUARY 5TH, 2174_ **

Six months passed by and the government was finally allowing humans to visit the monster city, which was advancing and developing pretty well. Monsters were starting to show up on the internet now, using their own version of social media called ‘Undernet’ where many monsters communicated with humans. Charity events were dedicated to bettering the lifestyle of monsters, and it turns out there are _a lot_ of humans who were supporting the monsters.

However there were some things that humans had a problem with: specifically the fact that monsters had _magic_. Humans that were against monsters used this fact as a reason for humans to be afraid of monsters, saying that the monsters would turn on them eventually. You wished you could go right up to their faces and tell them that it was the _opposite_. Another thing that alarmed humans was the concept of SOULs.

After watching humans for two hundred years you realized that humans were really dedicated to their religion. This did not help the fact that SOULs went against some religions, the fact that there is a way for monsters to pull out said SOULs with their magic. Again, Asgore reminded the humans that monsters did not intend to harm humans.

Sitting on your chair, scrolling past several articles about monsters, after your ‘birthday’ (which was not actually your _real_ birthday, just another lie to fit in more) Jessica took matters into her own hands. She bought you a computer, though you checked her SOUL and realized that she wanted you to use it to ‘date’ other humans... What a funny woman.

You wish you could just teleport and tell Asgore and Toriel that you were _alive_ and well, but if your existence was known, then humans would _eventually_ find out about your powers. You didn’t need your visions to tell you that, it was just common sense. Especially since humans were afraid of monsters, knowing that you could see and affect their SOULs would only cause a deeper rift between humans and monsters.

It was almost 11:30 a.m. and you had to go to the Ebott Shuttle Station in order to visit the monster city, which Asgore unfortunately named: _Monster City._ No unauthorized vehicles or other modes of transportation were allowed within Monster City, so although you lived really close to Monster City, you still had to use the shuttle. Making your way outside you hopped on your motorcycle and rode into Ebott City.

 

...

 

It was absolutely _packed_ at the station, children with their parents looking as if they were going to an amusement park. You rolled your eyes and hopped on one shuttle, good thing you bought your ticket beforehand (guess all that gold you had really came in handy over the years, transferring it into dollars was easy). A forty minute drive later and you passed the gates of Monster City, which were now replaced with lovely metal fences, though you highly doubt that gates and fences were lovely, they did resemble the bars of a cage.

Exiting the shuttle you and about fifty other humans (three shuttles came to the city) waited for the guide to tell you the ‘rules’. You didn’t listen to them, only focusing on the monsters that passed by - watching you all with curious eyes. It took all the power in your SOUL to stop yourself from running around like a little child. Once the guide was done talking, the humans were free to roam the city until 8:00 p.m..

Of course the first thing you did was go to the nearest monster restaurant. How long had it been since you ate a whole monster meal?

You hoped that monster food was as good as you remembered it to be.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	6. Spiders, Dogs, and Bad Times

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It turns out your visit to Monster City isn't so pleasant at all.

Monster City was pleasant and inviting, your SOUL relaxing and fluttered when you spotted monsters. It was still hard for you to believe that they were finally free, finally free from the mages’ spell that imprisoned them underground two hundred years ago. Some humans follows you into the monster establishment called Muffet’s Bakery. When you entered the smell of sugar and cobwebs filled your senses and saw tiny spiders (so tiny that you could fit twenty in the palm of your human hand) serving humans and monsters. Their magic was probably allowing them to hold the large mugs and plates. It was a pleasant sight to see: lovely lilac walls adorned with decorative black webs, the walls were lit by white candlelight.

You seated yourself on a stool in front of a bar and a spider carried a menu over to you. You thanked them and took a quick look at it, handing the menu back to her.

“I’d like two spider croissants please.” You gave her a smile as the spider took the menu and went through a small door made for spiders that led to the kitchen.

After a few minutes a monster walked out the larger doors, carrying a plate with dark purple croissants. She placed the plate in front of you, her five black eyes blinking at you.

“Two spiders croissants?” You nodded, “Here you go dearie, enjoy~.”

“Thank you.” Your eyes gleamed brightly at her.

Before you could take a bit out of the croissant, she spoke a few words that gained your attention.

“You have lovely eyes, dearie.” She continued, “Most humans have rather dull eyes, no offense, but yours a lovely shade. So lovely, lovely indeed!”

“Thank you…” You muttered and bit into the croissant, your eyes widened in surprise.

They were _definitely_ better than the monster food you had. The monster went to tend to other customers and you finished your croissants. You turned your head to see the prices, another handy thing that happened over the months, was that monsters were able to convert gold into money (and vice versa). Placing twenty dollars on the bar counter, the croissants were only three dollars each but you were feeling generous today, you stood up to explore the rest of Monster City.

Most of the humans were having a great time, laughing along with monsters as they talked to each other. You passed by a few other shops and restaurants, standing in front of a… Dog-petting center..? Confused you entered the building and stopped.

_Oh._

It was a literal petting center… For _monster_ dogs. But these dogs wore clothing and armor that bore the Delta Rune in. Some way shape of form. You’ve never met a dog monster before, so you assumed this was a regular thing for them? Human children were crowding a dog in large armor, possibly having said monster standing at about as tall as you (which was around 5’8”). You were about to leave when a smaller dog walked towards you, his SOUL urging you to pet him.

You didn’t even touch his head when his tail started to wag, and his neck grew _longer?_ You started to pet the dog vigorously and the dog’s neck grew longer. Children crowded around you and the guard when his neck reached all the way to the ceiling. Allowing the children to pet the dog you stepped back, the guard whining a bit when you left him.

“Wow Lesser Dog really likes you!” A child’s voice spoke behind you, tugging your jacket you turned around…

And you almost screamed in alarm.

It was the missing child, the one from the vision, the one who had freed all of the monsters underground. It was Maria Vera, or as they insisted every time you saw them on television: _Frisk_. You took a deep breath, giving them a smile.

“Is that his name, Lesser Dog?” You asked and Frisk nodded, “What are you doing here? Aren’t you supposed to be with King Asgore?”

“Nope!” They said almost happily, “President Miller cancelled the meeting after Asgore went to go to visit the Monster School to check up on how the monsters’ education was going along.”

“Heh yeah, the little prince was always a little softie…” You muttered with a chuckle then stopped, noticing how Frisk regard you with confused eyes.

After a minute you finally realize that you made a mistake looking down at the child with dismissive eyes and a stammering voice.

“I-I mean, that’s just what I’ve seen on t.v.” You shrugged, “There was a monster who called him that once. Stuck with me ever since.”

Frisk didn’t buy into your lie, but nodded along anyway. The two of you stared at each other, you were suddenly unsure what to do. The Ambassador of Monsters was standing before you, so why didn’t you talk to them more? For a moment you looked away, then realized what made you uneasy about them: their **SOUL**. It was a bright red, brighter than any other SOUL you had seen, only a _mage_ had that kind of SOUL.

You checked their LV: 1. You checked their health: 20. The normal amount for any human child, adults had 20 more hp, and mages were just **_stronger,_**  so why was their SOUL so bright, more so - why did they still feel guilty and distant? Not even you could seem to see what was so strange about them.

You looked at Frisk with judgemental eyes.

Frisk looked as if they’d seen this happen before.

Before you could come up with some sort of explanation the doors burst open and you turned around in shock, your mouth open and your eyes wide. The blue fish-like monster stood at the entrance, her one eye gleaming at the dogs. Frisk suddenly looked much happier and bounded towards the monster, smiling.

“Hi Undyne!” They waved at her.

“Hey kid!” ‘Undyne’ greeted back, “You were _here?_ You made Toriel worried sick, she thought you got lost!”

“Sorry…” Frisk muttered sheepishly, you watched the scene with curious eyes.

“But no worries kid! I was just here to retrieve the Guard Dogs!” Undyne bellowed out, “Sorry people but I need the dogs right now!”

Hearing the tall monster the dogs bounded towards Undyne, though waited a minute for Lesser Dog to regain their former composure. Regarding the monster they left the building, causing many children to become sad and leave - their parents leaving with them. You didn’t leave for some reason, watching the exchange between Frisk and Undyne.

“I’m not takin’ you back to Toriel,” Undyne continued, “Sans and Papyrus were sent to retrieve you.”

With that a tall lanky skeleton monster entered the building clad in a strange costume, followed by a much shorter skeleton (maybe about as tall as Frisk at 4’11) who wore a blue jacket that was zipped up, black basketball shorts, and… pink slippers? The skeletons talked to Frisk and Undyne, and it was not until the shorter skeleton had noticed you that you had a frown on your face. You suddenly felt like you were going to empty the human food you ate two days ago.

Why are there more skeletons? If you recalled correctly you, Gaster, and Roman were the last of the skeleton monsters: since many skeletons were made to become apart of your father’s guard there was no reason for odd-looking skeletons to even _exist_. As good as your empire was, skeletons were created the same way and _looked_ the same (with the exception of royal skeletons and Gaster who was created with a few imperfections), there was no way that these skeletons existed… Unless…

While you were deep set in thought you felt the shorter skeleton try to check your SOUL, you didn’t let him and your frown only got deeper. The short skeleton, who you noticed had a toothy smile, narrowed his eyes. You clenched your teeth and tried to figure out why these two skeletons were here. Moreso why this skeleton had the ability to check your SOUL, only royal skeletons were able to check SOULs outside of a fight… Like _you_. In return you easily checked the short skeleton’s SOUL which radiated with caution.

 

 **SANS:   HP:** 1   |    **AT:** 1   |    **DF:** 1

* Trying to JUDGE you.

 

Now your SOUL was feeling even more confusion and a visible sour expression made its way to your face. Ignoring the monsters and human child you quickly pushed past them and made your way past several monsters. Ignoring their yelps as you ran your eyes were trained on the ground. Finally you arrived at a park, finding a bench you sat on it, your thoughts returning.

You didn’t trust those skeletons.

You didn’t even _feel_ grateful that there were more of your kind, only thinking about the circumstances that caused them to _become_. Skeleton monsters were rare, even back then before the war that waged your empire, and seeing a new skeleton being ‘born’ was always a surprise. The Void was a place between space and time, the birthplace of all skeleton monsters. There were two ways a skeleton monster could be created: the Void creating one on its own (you never questioned the Void but you assumed all skeleton monsters had a role to play) or force the Void to create it with an artificial SOUL.

Royal skeletons were given the ability to see timelines and see SOULs, as the Void was between space and time - monsters like you were able to see possible outcomes for the ‘core’ timeline. You **_really_ ** hoped that those skeletons that you saw fell into the soldier caste, but their appearances (one skeleton was as tall as a royal skeleton, and the other one as short as a human child) made it hard to tell. Now as for their ‘creation’...

Did Gaster make them? Did the Void create them for a greater purpose, or did Gaster’s scientific tendencies cause him to create them with artificial SOULs. But the shorter skeleton had the ability to check SOULs.

Did that mean that he shared some of your abilities?

You couldn’t take any chances, as much of a kind monster Asgore is, you wondered if the goat monster knew that the short skeleton had that ability. Seeing another skeleton with that ability left uneasiness in your SOUL, you **_couldn’t_ ** trust them. A key fact all of your family members remembered the Void telling them, was that timelines were fragile and that it was up to you to ensure that no one would abuse their abilities for their own well being. Everything that you and your family members did, it was for the timeline and the timeline only. Emotions and attachments were forgotten as soon as the choice came to continue said timeline. All of these timelines and _you_ had to make sure that this one wouldn’t fall into chaos.

But suddenly you felt as if you had no effect over the timeline. Ever since the appearance of monsters aboveground it became harder for you to focus on one timeline, each one felt enticing to follow but eventually found dead ends. Now that monsters had surfaced so many possibilities came to you: from human-monster fusions, to monsters growing to hate humans, to another human-monster war.

All of these thoughts, all of the _uneasiness_ , came from just seeing **two** skeleton monsters. Not to mention Frisk, the one with a SOUL so determined you thought that they were a mage. Maybe they were a mage and they haven’t used their powers yet. Whatever the reason, the only concern that you had was those two skeletons messing up the timeline.

You didn’t notice the tall goat monster as he approached you, shadowing you as he looked down.

You looked up and felt as if your SOUL wanted to shrivel up and hide away.

“Oh, your highness I didn’t notice you!” You sat upright, looking at Asgore with wide eyes.

“No need to call me that.” Asgore took a seat beside you, which mildly surprised you that no one stared at the two of you - were monsters used to seeing their king often? How odd… Monsters underground were _really_ different from the previous generation.

“So…” You trailed off, unsure what to say.

It’s not like you could say, “Hey! I’m actually a monster you knew since you were a kid. I’m still alive and well. How are you?” and expect Asgore to be calm about it.

To everyone you knew, they probably thought that the humans had dusted you.

“I recognized your face.” Asgore started, “You were the one who silenced everyone long ago?”

“You remember that?” You asked curiously, tilting your head, “But that was **_months_ ** ago!”

“That may be true, but I never had the opportunity to thank you.” Asgore said with appreciation in his voice.

“...You’re welcome.” You muttered and checked your phone: **_4:23 p.m._ **

“I’m glad monsters have finally made it to the surface,” You corrected yourself, “I mean you were in there for a long time, right?”

“Indeed, I’m glad all monsters have seen the surface.” Asgore said, “No doubt without the help of my royal scientist who came up with the idea of using the CORE, an invention that converts heat to energy, to power up Monster City.”

The Royal Scientist… **_Gaster_**.

You had an idea: if you were going to reveal your identity to at least one monster, it would be Gaster. That way you could possibly reveal your true self, and not hide in secrecy anymore, _and_ find out how those two skeletons came to be. You looked up at Asgore and asked:

“The Royal Scientist, where are they right now? I had a few questions for them.”

“Oh Alphys?”    **_W h a t—_ ** “I can ask her the questions for you!”

“Uhm… Nevermind.” You shook your head, SOUL churning up again, “I’ll just e-mail her on the Undernet…”

You stood up, “I have to go now…”

“Well… It was nice talking to you…” Asgore looked at you, waiting for your name, you replied curtly.

“My name is [______]...” You took a few steps forward and turned your head, muttering quietly, “... [______] Proxima.”

You left before you could see Asgore’s expression full of confusion, recognition, and finally: **_realization_**.

 

…

 

That night you dreamed of spiders and skeletons.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	7. Dusty Dreams and Old Friends

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You finally show your TRUE FORM.

_You were standing in a judgement hall, no not the one from King Ragarus’s castle. Judging from the yellow stained glass windows the outside was dark with an angry red pushing out from the horizon—that was_ **_Hotland_** _, a voice told you—you were in the Underground. Even though you hadn’t visited the depths of the mountain and humans weren’t allowed anywhere near the mouth of the cave, you_ **_somehow_ ** _knew you were in the Underground. You were draped in your armor and cape, looking down at your hands you saw creamy white bones: you in your_ **_TRUE FORM._ ** _Across from you at the entrance of the hall was_ **_the_ ** _small child,_ **_Frisk_** _._

_You had seen this dream before—or was this actually a vision?—ever since you saw the two skeletons._

_The child had blood red eyes, a sight all too familiar to you. In their hand was a sharpened knife and around their neck was a golden heart-shaped locket bound together by golden beads. There were bones littered around the hall, some embedded deep within the pillars and stained glass. You checked Frisk's SOUL which felt stronger and hardened after dusting so many monsters. Their hair was also covered in dust, giving them an almost demonic appearance._

 

**_FRISK   |   LV: 19   |   HP: 42/92   |   AT: 80   |   DF: 80_ **

_* Dusted all of your friends. Must be stopped at all costs._

 

_Magic surged throughout your body, engulfing your frame in golden flames that (due to their magical nature) didn’t scorch the golden tiles. You prepared a bone attack, giving the child all you got. You didn’t care if they were a child, and you certainly didn’t care that they would be the one to free monsters in another timeline, all that mattered was to make sure that no harm came to your king. But despite everything, the child dodged every attack, their blade getting dangerously close for you now and then._

_You could feel the SOULs of your fallen friends—friends who had fallen down before the war and after the war—syncing with yours, the image of their dust falling on the child never leaving your mind. You only managed to hit them two times before they swung hard…_

 

**_9999999999_ **

 

 _Somehow they struck you across the open space between your ribs and pelvic bone, slicing the spine in half. Half of your body’s magic was left in your legs that fell to the floor, and the other half helped your arms support you. The child was in front of you now, their dust-covered shoes tapping the horns on your skull in a mocking manner. Your SOUL suddenly felt weak, a feeling you had only associated_ **_once_ ** _when Roman had turned to dust. Your SOUL felt empty and by now you could no longer feel the other half of your body. Your bones rattled, the emptiness only growing as you felt yourself turn to dust._

_With tired eyes you accepted your fate, feeling nothing but your SOUL._

_There was a giggle, the sounds of shoes against the tiles, the sound of Asgore’s voice - everything felt surreal._

_Your SOUL called out one last time…_

 

_...But there was no one left._

 

...

 

**_APRIL 13TH, 2174_ **

Three months since you visited Monster City, since you had seen those two skeletons, and you still had dreams about the _same_ event. Every few days you would get the same dream, leaving you to ponder on your thoughts. Now you _really_ couldn’t trust the human child after what you’ve seen. Maybe it was a way for the Void to warn you, that the child’s existence was a danger to all timelines. A conflicting matter considering that they’ve successfully started the timeline where monsters are above the surface.

Which reminded you to stay inside to the point that your human friends thought that you had died. After repeating yourself so many times that you wouldn’t drop any hints, why did you tell Asgore that your name had ‘Proxima’ in it? At this point you regret everything you did at Monster City, not even those spider donuts could remind you of all the good that came out of that visit. But now that Asgore possibly knows that you’re the monster he knew all those years ago (and you weren’t sure if he told Toriel about your exchange with him), you suddenly felt afraid to confront them now.

 

Were you still the same monster that they knew all those years ago?

 

Were you still the hardened monarch that gave everything up for the sake of monsters?

 

Were you still    **_P r o x i m a   N o v a   ?_ **

 

Not only were these questions popping up in your mind, you thought about those two skeletons who without a doubt had a connection to Frisk and their group of monsters. You still weren’t ready to accept those skeletons, and you weren’t sure if you will ever be ready. So many questions and you knew that the only answer was to face your problems head on. Quite frankly, you preferred staying inside to watch the world of monsters and humans progress.

Oh, and speaking of progress…

Monsters were finally permitted to live in Ebott City. This didn’t help your predicament of avoiding other monsters, only adding onto it. You were cooped up in the living room once more, a blanket encasing you in its warm embrace, half-eaten spider croissants littered all over the table. You were watching the news again, but when were you _not_ nowadays? Before you could wallow in your thoughts again three prominent knocks were heard coming from your door.

“Coming!” You shouted and threw the blanket off of you, trudging until you made it to the front door.

Opening it revealed the form of two monsters clad in midnight blue armor, one of them had furry ears while the other one had scaley protrusions coming out of the top of their helmet. On the top left part of the chassis was the Delta Rune, your SOUL dropped.

“Can I help you…?” You asked.

“King Asgore said that we are to retrieve you for your meeting with him.” The bunny-eared one spoke first.

“...You can… get dressed first though…” The scaley one finished, and you nodded silently.

“Of course, would you two like to come in?” The two nodded and you moved, allowing the two to step in, “The living room is just down the hall. I’ll go change…”

The two walked in the direction you told them and you walked down the left hallway, making your way up the stairs until you found your _armory_ . Entering it and locking the door you turned on the lights, revealing several mannequins wearing armor. Before the mages completely removed all trace of monsters on the planet, beside those spells and scrolls you gathered armor that was left in the Dreemurr Castle. The first one to the left wore armor from the Royal Skeleton guard, the obsidian still clean and pristine. The second one was your battle armor when the human-skeleton war first started, deep nicks and cracks littering the old armor. The third one was covered in a white sheet, your eyes softened at the sight and sighed. That was the armor from the human-monster war, the same one that had _Roman’s_ dust on it. You turned your attention to the armor you were looking for.

The JUDGE’s armor: dark grey and adorned with a purple cloak that wrapped around the neck. The golden Delta Rune pin was long lost after the war and you never bothered to retrieve it. Placing the armor on your body you felt the weight of the metal pushing down on you (even at your human height the armor was much bigger than you), yet you managed to walk out of the room and towards the guards who were watching t.v.. If they found you in the armor weird, then they were really good at not staring. Well to be frank you couldn’t tell at all what they were thinking due to their helmets.

They escorted you out of the house, guiding you to a black car that was parked in your driveway. Since monsters were granted official citizenship, they were able to get licenses and official certificates. Sitting in the back seat you silently watched as the tall spruce trees whizzed by, hunching over awkwardly whenever you stepped on your cape, or when your armor would scratch against the window.

Within a few minutes you were in Monster City, and the monster watched as the car rolled in, passing by curious bystanders. The car stopped in front of a large beige-colored home that had expertly trimmed hedges and a beautiful flower bed. Exiting the car you waited for the knight, holding the ends of your cape so that it wouldn’t get dirty. You watched as a few froggits and whimsuns (by the stars you haven’t seen those types of monsters in _forever_ ) look at you as if you were crazy. It certainly was a funny sight: a human wearing armor that was 2 times their size, the bottom of the cape bundled up in their arms, walking with proudness.

The three of you were standing in front of the door now and the two guards knocked on the door in sync before stepping back. You gulped, SOUL shaking at the anticipation. This was it, you were going to face ASGORE. You were going to see your friend and tell him who you really were. In the bottom of your SOUL voices were screaming at you, telling you to stop - if monsters knew about your identity then the chances of them finding out about the Void would be high, wait no that was the other timeline… What timeline were you even following? You were confused and scared, you weren’t ready for this. **_You_ ** **_weren’t_ ** **_ready._ **

The door opened, and instead of the hulking form of Asgore, you looked down to see… The skeleton _Sans_.

Your eyebrows furrowed, his smile became tight.

“I’m here to see King Asgore.” You simply said and the skeleton shrugged, allowing you to pass, not saying a word.

Man, you really disliked that shit-eating grin so much. You checked his SOUL again, making sure that he felt you doing it by tugging it, his browbones narrowed at you. He felt calm, cautious, and weary of you. He definitely didn’t say anything about it, only hollering out by cupping his hands to his mouth. You noticed that the grin didn’t move, only the other parts of his skull indicated any movement.

“fluffybuns! the human you were talking about is here!” Sans said, his font sounding louder than it should’ve been - did those two skeletons even know that they were talking with fonts?

Fonts were just a way for skeleton monsters to be heard, since many monsters were made with vocal cords, skeleton monsters were just the exception since they were all bones. Being disguised as a human, you haven’t used your font in a long time, completely used to your human ‘voice’. Looking at the stairs that trailed upstairs, you heard very prominent footsteps. Finally after a minute you spotted Asgore, who wore a plaid shirt and blue jeans. Another bizarre look for him, since he wore nothing but golden armor and the finest royal clothing for the longest time.

You and Asgore met eyes, you felt his SOUL shake.

He eyed your armor, his SOUL was relieved and _happy_.

It only took seven seconds for him to run down the stairs and engulf you in a hug. Asgore called Toriel’s name, who seemed confused at first, but realized and _recognized_ you (even if you weren’t in your TRUE FORM) when she saw the armor. Tears streamed down your faces, laughing and muttering words of encouragement. A few ‘ _I knew you were still alive.’_ and _‘By the stars_ **_Nova_** _, is that really you?’_ were thrown around. You sobbed - an ugly sound that resonated throughout the house - and tried to wrap your arms around the goat monsters, but your human size made it hard to hug them. You missed them so much. All of the sadness and sorrow gone with the embrace of two monsters.

In your excited stupor you shifted into your TRUE FORM, the armor fitting you perfectly as your arms were finally able wrap around them. Clear tears turned black from your magic. You were like that for two minutes and twenty-six seconds before you all heard a plate break, several gasps, and a _jaw_ falling to the floor. The three of you froze, untangling each other from the embrace.

 

_**You forgot that there were other monsters in here.** _

 

Sans, Undyne, the lanky skeleton (the one whose jaw dropped to the ground), and a yellow lizard monster watched with wide eyes.

“SANS, **_LOOK!_ ** ANOTHER SKELETON!”

**_Crap._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	8. The Proof, The Void, and The Dinner

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You explain your existence to monsters you don't know.

Staring down at the other monsters, and by that you were literally tall enough to look down at them, you were silent - SOUL hammering in your chest. This was **_not_ ** supposed to happen. The plan was to see Asgore, reveal your TRUE FORM to him and Toriel, then go on your merry way living monster city as a monster. Instead four monsters you didn’t even know, let alone _trust_ , knew your _true_ identity. Asgore was the first to break the silence after the lanky skeleton’s jaw fell off (which was more proof that they were using fonts to speak). Asgore placed a paw on your shoulder while Toriel stood on your right side.

“This is Proxima Nova, a long time friend of mine before the war.” He continued, “...They are the _JUDGE_ of Dreemurr Kingdom.”

“How come we haven’t seen you at all?” Undyne crossed her arms, “I thought all monsters were trapped in the Underground.”

“Not all, _obviously_.” You said with a sneer, “There were a few who escaped, but that didn’t stop the human mages from turning them into dust. I have my suspicions but Asgore, can you tell me what _happened_ to my Royal Skeleton Guard after they were sealed underground with you?”

“They…” Asgore trailed off.

“Lost hope.” Toriel finished for him with sad eyes, “They didn’t see you amongst us and simply gave up.”

 **_Then why were there more skeletons, other than me, in this very room? If you’d like I would like to have a little_ ** **_chat_ ** **_with them._ ** Luckily you had enough sense to keep your thoughts to yourself. You held your voice and waited for more questions. If they knew you were a monster, it was better to say as little information as possible.

“W-Why were you s-separated from the others?” The yellow-scaled monster asked curiously.

“I was... distracted.” Your eyelights looked down, sockets narrowing in sorrow.

Toriel and Asgore noticed this and came to a horrifying realization.

“ _Stars_ , Nova.” Toriel put a paw over her mouth, “I didn’t realize… I’m so sorry. No one should experience that. Is _he_ really…?”

“Yes.” You cut her off then looked up, “Are we done asking questions? Now that you all know who I am I’d rather make this easy and be out of your lives.”

“So you’re telling’ me that you’re a monster but how did you turn into a human?” Undyne asked skeptically, “How do we know that you’re not a mage disguising as this ‘Proxima Nova’?”

“Magic spells from King Ragarus’s chambers.” You shrugged, “Got to that one before the mages destroyed the castle.”

“But mages are strong! What if _you’re_ disguising as a monster?” Before Toriel and Asgore could come to your defense you gave the other monsters a smile.

“Follow me outside.” Without a second thought you exited out of the building and stood on the grass, a few feet away from the house.

The other monsters gathered in front of you, all of them curious. The skeletons were strangely silent, quietly whispering to each other the whole time. Well, the taller skeleton made it hard to ignore the fact that they were whispering. Ignoring them you looked down to the ground and rose your right arm up, the hand was engulfed in black flames. You looked at them with blank eye sockets (though this was just you messing around with them and had nothing to do with your magic), startling the monsters. Then the sky distorted on itself, inky black nothingness replacing s few spots in the sea of blue.

Out came three of your undertakers, eyes emitting yellow flames, their magic finally replenished after at least two hundred years of rest. All of the monsters except for Toriel, Asgore, and _Sans_ jumped back. **_Did Sans know, stars, have the_ ** **_ability_ ** **_to summon undertakers?_ ** Undyne was the first to exclaim.

“What the **_heck_ ** is that!?” Comically as she spoke, the yellow lizard monster hopped into Undyne’s arms.

How cute.

“My father didn’t bother to tell me the name of them.” You shrugged, allowing your arm to fall by your side. “A friend of mine called them undertakers. Well, another name he used was Gaster Blasters - how _conceited_ of him - but I stuck with undertakers.”

You couldn’t help but narrow your eye sockets when Sans’s eye sockets widened upon mentioning Gaster’s name. The yellow lizard untangled herself from Undyne’s embrace, pushing her round glasses to her face.

“W-where exactly d-do they **_come_ ** from?” She asked, tilting her head.

“I believe that it’s best to take this conversation inside now,” You waved your hand and the undertakers bowed their skulls before returning into the inky black abyss, “I’d prefer if bystanders wouldn’t hear this.”

As the seven of you entered the large home, none of you noticed Frisk who watched the scene with a neutral gaze. Behind them an equally child-sized shadow with red eyes loomed over Frisk with a devilish smile.

You were a **_very_ ** interesting character.

 

…

 

“All skeleton monsters come from _The Void._ ” you said, glancing at the two skeletons, “Our magic is tied to it, _bonded_ to it, making it impossible for one to absorb our SOULs for they return to the Void if it happens to shatter.”

“The Void is a place between space and time, allowing some of its creations - like myself - to see into other timelines.” You paused, seeing that the yellow lizard - who introduced herself as Alphys, the Royal Scientist - was practically _dying_ to talk. “Yes Alphys?”

“So the multiverse theory is true!” It was more of a statement then question, “How many have you see—”

 **“DOES THIS MEAN THERE ARE MORE ME’S OUT THERE?”** Papyrus (Undyne introduced for you) exclaimed, interrupting Alphys, **“B-BUT… THERE CAN ONLY BE ONE PAPYRUS! AND THAT PAPYRUS IS** **ME** **!”**

“Unfortunately, there are more you’s than everyone living on Earth.” You replied, uninterested by his rather... _theatrical_ persona.

 **“don’t worry bro,”** Sans patted Papyrus’s shoulder, looking at the other - who seemed to have _eyeballs_ with tears in them.

What strange skeletons, using their magic for strange things.

 **“you’re still the coolest papyrus i know.”** In your bitter thoughts you couldn’t help but think that he other Papyruses.

“I was created into the royalty caste, alongside my father, brothers, and sisters - though none of us looked remotely the same - we were all connected by the Void.” you pointed to where your SOUL would be, “Whatever they felt, I felt. And vice versa.”

“Are skeleton monsters uh… Made the same way as regular monsters? If you get what I mean.” Undyne asked awkwardly.

“No.” You shook your skull, “Although I mentioned a father, well, he’s technically just a _really_ old brother. We don’t have parents, if you considered the Void that is, so we don’t receive traits from different parents. We make our own personalities, our SOUL isn’t trying to fit a mold made by the parents. All we know is that we were created from the Void and that as skeletons from the _royalty caste_ we had one job, and one job only.”

 **“and what was that?”** Sans asked, tilting your skull.

“To ensure that the timeline and its residents aren’t corrupted.” You simply said.

“What does that mean?” Alphys asked.

“As I’ve mentioned previously there are multiple timelines leading to infinite universes.” You continued slowly, “The Void shows us via dreams and visions the ‘true’ timeline, preferably as I call it: the CORE timeline. This is the timeline we are in, and unfortunately I don’t have complete control over my future vision, I am merely shown events that are important two what happens to the future of monsters and happens.”

 **“so does everything we do affect the timeline?”** Sans asked, and did you feel _interest_ and _eagerness_ in his SOUL?

He certainly had a strong enthusiasm about timelines… Just like _Gaster_.

“No, something like the color of your shirt, or what you ate one day, really doesn’t matter. I simply watch out for the things that lead to a timeline-changing event. A bit confusing but when you’ve been doing this for thousands of years, you get used to the signs.”

 **“WOW, YOU’RE JUST AS OLD AS KING ASGORE AND QUEEN TORIEL!”** Papyrus exclaimed, that made you smile.

“Nah,” You waved a dismissing hand, “I’m _much_ older than them. Like, I’m even older than Asgore’s father, Ragarus… Which is why Asgore will always be like a little prince to me!”

Wrapping an arm around Asgore’s shoulders, you pulled him close, chuckling. Said king tried to hide his face in his shirt (though failed since tufts of fur and hair shifted to reveal his blushing cheeks. See? He was still the same prince who loved gardening and hated violence. A thought came to your mind and you stopped chuckling, looking at Sans and Papyrus.

“So, I’ve been meaning to ask you two—”

_“Everyone, dinner’s ready!”_

Toriel’s voice hollered from where you assumed was the kitchen. Undyne and Papyrus yelled in victory, muttering to each other how tense the atmosphere was. Alphys followed Undyne, and Asgore patted your shoulder before joining the others. Only you and Sans remained, you stared at each other before you spoke. Standing up and patting your cape, picking at the grass that managed to wedge its way into the soft fabric. Your eyelights turned to the smaller skeleton.

 **“If you’re going to threaten me in any way, do it right now.”** Your _font_ was professional and calm, yet felt imposing at the same time; simple. **“I really don’t care if you like or hate me, I can feel it in your SOUL you want to find every little thing about me, just to make sure your brother is safe. I can assure you with me here,** **everyone** **is safer.”**

His grin relaxed at hearing your words, and he shrugged.

**“k.”**

You thought that he was going to follow you to the dining hall, but when you looked at him he simple just… Disappeared.

_So he can teleport…_

You made your way to the dining hall, watching the others laugh and talk about just… _life_. It was a rather odd sight to see, yet you couldn’t help but feel left out. You couldn’t remember the last time you actually sat down with Asgore and Toriel, if you recalled it was the Summer Banquet that occurred three weeks before the war. King Ragarus and Queen Blisara were still there at the time, you remembered their proud faces at the sight of their youngest son ruling over monsters alongside humans peacefully. You remembered sitting next to Roman who talked to you about how happy he was to be by your side. That night you two held hands as you watched the stars, waiting for dawn to arrive.

That was the last time you two spent quality time together.

_“Nova… Are you alright?”_

You looked up, not realizing that you spaced out again. Toriel was in front of you, looking up at you with concerned eyes, she placed a paw on your shoulder (though she had to go on her tippy toes to do so). You sighed.

“I was just… In my thoughts again.” You looked off to the side, “I’ve been holding everything in all these years, it’s just so _hard_ to actually tell someone what _I’m_ thinking and how _I’m_ feeling! It’s just…”

You lowered your voice before you gained unnecessary attention, “It’s just so hard to know that your actions matter more than your feelings. And _stars!_ I was so alone!”

Toriel pulled you in for a hug, rubbing her paw up and down your spine, it felt… comforting and nice. She pulled away, much to your chagrin, and motioned over to the table.

“It’s okay, we’ll take this one step at a time, okay? For now, eat. Monster food does last forever, but it’s better when it’s hot.” You smiled.

“Thank you Toriel I… I really needed that.”

“Anything to help ease the pain.” **_That’s what Blisara said when we were talking about…_ **

No, push those thoughts away. You’re here to forget and _live_ . You walked over to the seat next to Asgore, watching as Toriel brought out a pie from the counter. Was that a cinnamon _and_ butterscotch pie? It was a nostalgic smell that made you smile. The rest of the night was like that, just monsters having a good time. After everyone was done eating, Undyne, Alphys, and Papyrus left to wherever they lived in Monster City. Leaving you, Toriel, and Asgore at their large home. You turned to the two who watched curiously as you made your way towards the front door.

“Well, it was nice to talk to you again.” Just as you were ready to teleport back to your home Asgore called your name.

“Please… Stay here…?” The king pleaded, “I know it’s lonely up in that mansion of yours, Alphys found your home a week after we met in Monster City, so _please_ just…”

“What Dreemurr means is that we want you to stay here.” Toriel finished, your SOUL jumped with joy.

“Really…?” You asked, “Would that make you happy?”

Their eyes seemed to repeat back: “Would that make **_you_ ** happy?”

With a smile you joined them, but not before asking a dying question.

“Where is Frisk by the way?” You thought back to the dream you had, “Are they here?”

“Yes, they are asleep.” Toriel nodded and clasped her paws together, “Now! Come, I will take you to your room. Dreemurr, you can go back to bed now.”

Knowing that you were united with your friends, finally able to stay out of hiding…

  
It filled you with **_HOPE._ **

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	9. What Happened to Him?

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your opinion of Frisk isn't improving, and you think that something horrible has happened to an old friend.

_“Are you sure about this, Miss Nova?”_

_“Yes, yes! Just sshhh! Be quiet, we don’t want Roman to hear us, Asgore!”_

_“Will it hurt Roman?” Asgore’s eyes were filled with uneasiness but relaxed when you gave him a mischievous smile._

_“Nope, but it’ll be pretty funny when he wakes up!” Your right hand shook a chalice with a glitter-like substance, “Do you have the moldsmal slime?”_

_“Yeah right here!” In his paw was a small pouch that was secreting a greenish-yellow slime._

_“Alright now follow me. Don’t get too much slime on the rug, you know how much your mother hates it when you make a mess on the rug!”_

_Asgore followed you through the hallways, careful not to pass by any of your Royal Guards, if they found out what you were about to do, they would probably alert Roman as soon as possible. Then again, seeing their commander in a silly way always brought out a good laugh from the normally stoic skeletons. You walked until you found the Royal Garden, and on one of the benches was Roman: whose arms were crossed and his body relaxed, he was asleep._ **_Good._ ** _You placed a single phalange in front of your mouth, making a quiet ‘shhh’ noise as the both of you silently trudged towards him._

_When you were at an arms-length away from him you pointed to the grass in front of you and Asgore opened the pouch, allowing the thick slime to fall to the ground. You tilted the chalice in your hand and the glitter substance fell into the slime. You threw the chalice at Roman’s chest plate, causing him to jump in alarm and open his eyesockets._

_“Nova, what are…”_

_Before he could finish his sentence you used your magic to make his SOUL blue, raising him up and throwing him into a Void portal above him. Whilst you were doing that, you placed a portal on top of the slime glitter. As Roman went through one portal, he fell into the other one. Straight into the glitter mess._

_You ruffled Asgore’s head, laughing with him as Roman tried to comprehend what had happened. He rose his arms, watching in disgust as the glittery slime stuck to his bones, his limbs went limp in defeat. Softly, a chuckle escaped him before his chuckles turned into laughs, propping himself so that he was sitting with his legs stretched out. Roman made a ‘tsk’ noise as he turned his skull to look at you._

_“Is the one and only Proxima Nova teaching Prince Asgore bad habits?” You laughed and placed a hand out for Roman to grab._

_“Learn to laugh, Roman. Enjoy the moment while it lasts.”_

_When he grabbed your hand you were prepared to help him get up… Only for_ **_him_ ** _to pull you into the slimy glitter with him. Shocked but still amused nonetheless, the both of you ended up covered in the glittery goo, giving your bones a shine - mixed in with the greenish slime. You helped each other up, wrapping an arm around Roman, pulling you two in for a hug._

_“And what is this?” You feigned a shocked expression, “My knight and closest friend tricking me?”_

_“Nope!” Roman shook his head, skull turning a big yellow around the bridge of his nose, “You’re just_ **_falling_ ** _for me.”_

_“Ewww, you two are so lovey-dovey!” Asgore made gagging noises, causing you and Roman to laugh._

_“Just wait ‘til you’re older, than you’ll understand.” Roman drew you closer for another crushing hug._

_Soon enough Gaster entered the garden as well, his orange and cyan eyelights searching for you. When he found the three of you, he slammed a hand to his skull, rubbing it until he sighed, shaking his head. He gave the three of you a smile, turning to Asgore and pointed to where the entrance to the hallway was at._

_“It’s time for your lesson, your highness,” Gaster looked at you with a sideways glance, “_ ** _Someone_ ** _was supposed to take you to your tutor but…”_

 _You shrugged with lazy eyes._ **_Oops_** _._

_Asgore happily left the garden, leaving you with Gaster and Roman. Glancing down at the slimy, glitter mess below your feet you took Roman’s arm and pulled him off to the side. Creating a portal that sucked in the mess, leaving a inky black mess behind. You grimaced at the sight and scooped up the inky mess, molding it into a little ball before lifting it in the air - turning into nothing as your magic pulled it back into the Void. You turned to Gaster, who now had his hands on his hips._

_“You know you’re not suppose to use those portals so often!” Gaster exclaimed and you sighed._

_“Yes, yes I know.” You crossed your arms, “I still don’t see why this is a problem. I don’t even use them a lot!”_

_“Well, if you saw_ **_that_** _, then you would stop!” Gaster pointed to the grass where you placed a portal._

_What you saw equally shocked you and Roman. The grass was gone (as expected since you cleaned up the ‘mess’ via the portal) but after you removed the inky black puddles, what was left was the… Grass? But the grass was gray instead of its spring green color, and every second the grass would flicker, turning green once and being out of place as if it was…_

 

**_Glitching._ **

 

...

 

You woke up to the sight of a child sitting at the foot of your bed.

Startled, you sat upright pressing against the back of the bed. Seeing that it was Frisk (though they were someone you still did it prefer to see, considering the dreams you had nights prior) you calmed down, unclenching the sheets that were almost pierced by your claw-like phalanges. You gave them an apologetic smile, turning your head to the curtains that were drawn back, sunshine filling the room in its golden glow. You turned back to Frisk who inched closer, fiddling with their hands. Were they a shy child?

“You startled me… What is it Frisk?” You asked, patting side of the bed, “Don’t be afraid, I’m not going to attack you.”

“Toriel sent me to bring you down for breakfast,” They continued to fiddle with their hands, “But she wanted to know what you wanted to eat first.”

“Erm… Surprise me?” It was more of a question than a concrete answer and the child nodded, leaving your room even with the soft carpet you could hear the soft pitter-patter of feet.

Hopping out of bed you turned your attention to the clothes that were neatly folded on the bed. The folded clothes consisted of blue jeans and a large dark gray sweater with light gray stripes going across the torso of the clothing item. Beside the folded clothes was a note card. You picked it up and read the neat cursive font that was used with a traditional feather pen:

 

**_Nova, since I felt a bit bad letting you sleep in your armor Papyrus was kind enough to lend you jeans that he hasn’t used yet. I knitted a sweater for you, please do tell me if I need to make changes for you._ **

**_With love,_ **

**_Toriel_ **

 

There was a sentence written on the bottom of the note card, but was hastily scribbled out. Placing the note on the bed and using your magic to shut and _lock_ the door (something you had forgotten once before when your human friend Jessica, who probably thought you were dead by now, came to visit) and changed out of your armor into the clothes. The pants were a bit tight but comfortable, and the sweater was absolutely _amazing_. Either Toriel expanded her knitting skills or she had been making sweaters for children, since you recognized the stripe-like design was mainly for children to wear, or maybe it was just a fashion choice done by her. Unlocking the door you were met by multiple smells: eggs, bacon, tea, and… Spaghetti?

Intrigued you made you way down the stairs to see Papyrus in an apron with Toriel, who seemed to be distressed each time Papyrus would insist on raising the flames. You made your way over to the dining table to see Frisk making a drawing of _you_? You took a chair and skid it over to the child, who seemed startled by your appearance.

“You’re drawing me and…” Your voice trailed off as you stared at the black crayon that was scribbling a black mass next to a poorly done drawing of you.

The black mass had a face, two eye sockets with cracks going through each one, but what was on its hands made you stop and freeze. Those were _Gaster’s hands_. It may have been a long time since you had last seen him but you’d never forget those distinguishing features. He was no ordinary skeleton monster _physically_ , but still shared the same magical properties as a soldier caste skeleton, but you turned to Frisk who seemed to regard you with closed eyes once more. Your eye sockets narrowed and you whispered.

“How do you know about...”

Frisk looked down at their drawing before muttering back: “The Underground, go to the **_CORE_**.”

They crumpled the paper and shoved it in their pant pockets, rushing into the kitchen and returned with a lunch pack. They waved towards the kitchen and yelled a goodbye to Toriel and Papyrus before heading out of the door. You sat dumbfounded, eye sockets narrowed and you looked at the black crayon left behind the child. You shook your skull and took it in your hands, groaning. Just as you were about to get settled into monster society there were so many things that you missed out on. Without a doubt you guessed that Gaster was also gone as well, judging from the lack of acknowledgement of the Royal Scientist’s namesake from the others.

Toriel walked into the dining hall, holding a plate full of monster food that you immediately recognized: _Sugar Crystals._ These were no ordinary candied rocks that humans ate, in fact these were _real_ crystals infused with magic. The crystals came from a bush-like plant that was only native to your empire, that is, until you brought it over when you joined Ragarus’s kingdom… Bless his SOUL. You gave Toriel a smile and grabbed one of the crystals, tilting your skull.

“I thought you forgot about these…?” Toriel shook her head.

“Dreemurr being the plant-enthusiast that he is took some seeds from his Royal Garden so that some species of magic plants would flourish Underground. We thought that they wouldn’t survive down there but… Their magic is still strong.” She explained.

You took a bite out of the crystal and your body ran jittery from the magic. Your smile got wider and Toriel took a seat next to you. Your eyes glanced back at the crayon and you sighed, finishing the crystal before looking at her with serious eyes. She seemed to take the hint and wait for you to speak.

“Toriel… What happened to Gaster?”

Her face twisted in confusion before it turned into one of nostalgia before she was going to tell you that Gaster was safe and well and that he was going to give you all the answers you—No. Wait that didn’t happen, _no_. Instead she rubbed her paws together as she took a seat next to you. Her question sent chills down your spine.

“I’m sorry my dear but… I have no idea _who_ you’re talking about.”

You teleported faster than Toriel could blink, leaving her in shock before she went to go tell Asgore of your sudden disappearance. Why did you react that way? It was a genuine question, never in her life had she heard the name ‘Gaster’. When she went to ask Asgore about who Gaster was… He also replied with a confused expression.

Meanwhile you trudged up the mountain until you reached the mouth of the cave, turning around you caught side of Monster City, Ebott, and your mansion that was not too far away from the mountain. You entered the dark cave before smelling flowers, a lot of flowers. You made your way past a purple gateway that led into a throne room surrounded by golden flowers: Asgore’s favorite kind of flower. You continued to walk past the throne room until you entered a nostalgic room, hugging the sweater close to your chest you turned around.

**_Time to get some answers._ **

Closing your eye sockets you searched for the SOULs back in Monster City, before calling out to Sans. If anyone was going to give you answers, it would be him because it seems that you have a problem on your hands regarding Gaster. And you think you know why Toriel doesn’t remember the monster who would give her every reason to remember _you_.

 

You had a feeling that Sans had _all_ the answers that you needed.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	10. Your Thoughts

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Not a real chapter but just something I want to ask you guys.

fdgjnfdg sorry that this isn't a real update BUT I just wanted to post this chapter for all of your feedback and stuff.

 

Like,,, what are your thoughts on Nova???

What do YOU guys think is going to happen?

Heck I'd even accept your thoughts on possible pairings for Nova.

 

I just want to talk to my readers about the story :^)

I love all of the positivity you guys are giving me for this story but I just want you guys to share your thoughts.


	11. Memories and Reconciliation

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You wished that you were there for your friends.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> NFGJDNGJFJNDFSASAAAA I LOVE YOU ALL 400+ HITS???  
> i wish i could do more for you guys hggg.
> 
>  
> 
> Thanks for waiting for this chapter!

**_SANS_ **

he was at his hot dog vendor when he felt the tugging in his soul. it was a strong nagging feeling that made his eye sockets narrow, for some reason he felt drawn to the mountain. he turned his skull towards mt. ebott, curiosity **peaking** (heh that was a good one) and returned to his job… but then the call got worse, and worse, and **_worse_**. it was so bad that he had to shut down his station all together, unable to focus on nothing but the tugging. he took a shortcut towards mt. ebott, looking into the dark entrance of the cave. no one had been in the cave since the barrier was broken, except for asgore, alphys, and a few human scientists who needed to see what possible energy sources the monsters were going to use to power monster city.

he was also there, though, he specifically requested that his presence was not mentioned in any press. he wasn’t really the type to get all the attention. the further in he walked into the mountain, the harder the tugging got, almost as if to tell him ‘hurry, i don’t have all day’. well unlike this strange force, he had all the time in the world to do anything. he entered the judgement hall, a place where he came unannounced to JUDGE frisk. though this was information between frisk and sans: he really wasn’t the actually judge. heck, sans didn’t even know if there was a judge for monsters except…

so **_they_ ** were the one who was tugging and calling his soul.

across from him was proxima nova, asgore’s former(?) judge, who seemed to be glaring at him. well it wasn’t _his_ problem that they seemed to dislike him so much, was it? they also disliked papyrus so at this point he had no idea what this skeleton’s problem was. did they have bones to pick? or were they just a complete asshat? not to mention the fact that they also seemed to dislike and not trust frisk, yeah, they probably just had a messed up soul.

“don’t ya’ think that the call was a bit excessive?” sans asked, nova didn’t reply.

“what happened to gaster?” nova demanded and for a moment, sans felt like a child again working alongside his father—wait who were they talking about again?

sans had to think hard for a moment when he remembered, out of all of the anomalies that he had studied, the fact that every monster forgot about the old royal scientist made his soul churn. the fact that even he forgot sometimes was a reminder that he had to keep working on the machine, to **_bring him back_**.

“i won’t ask a second time.” nova repeated and sans took a step forward.

“if you want answers you’re gonna hav’ta follow me.” sais said.

“to the core right?” nova asked, making sans turn around with a suspicious expression.

“how do you—”

“frisk gave me a hint after i found them drawing a picture of me and gaster.” nova continued, “they left before they could fully explain what was going on here… can you teleport us to the core?”

“yeah, just come ‘ere.” sans motioned for nova to stand next to him.

they looked surprised but stood next to him nonetheless. the shorter skeleton reached over to grab their forearm, but his height ended up leaving him to awkwardly grasp nova’s wrist, and sans took a deep breath before they plunged through the ground. they were in the void for at least three seconds (something that left nova with a surprised expression on their skull) before they materialized back in front of a bridge that led into a dark blue structure in front of them. behind them was a brightly-lit building, with music playing inside: a great contrast compared to the deep whirring and emptiness that filled the darkness under the bridge. if one looked down while walking across the bridge, they could see hot, flowing magma.

letting go of nova’s wrist sans’s eyes turned stoic, tiny pinpricks filling the space within his skull as he motioned for nova to follow him. it was as if he felt deep sorrow and regret filling his soul, was he still guilty of what happened? specifically, what happened to **_gaster?_ **

“just follow me into this elevator.” sans allowed nova to walk in first before following.

instead of pressing the few buttons on the pad, his left eye socket glowed a bright cyan, causing the pad to open and switch wires, each wire connecting and unconnecting until there was only one button with a wire in them. when sans’s eye socket finally returned back into its normal white he pressed the button. nova was silent through the whole ride up, looking down to stare at sans every once in a while before looking straight ahead.

the tension was _lovely_ to say the least.

when the elevator stopped nova exited first, looking around to see darkness, ready to use their magic to illuminate the room when sans flicked a switch causing all the lights to turn on. this was it. this was where it happened.

this is where gaster became one with the void.

* * *

 

**_NOVA_ **

You looked around the lab, analyzing its obvious state of disrepair. There were papers scattered everywhere, a thick layer of cold fog filling the room, causing Sans to put his hands in his pockets. Mirrors were broken and metal tables were thrown on their sides. For some reason all of this looked relatively new, like maybe 60 years old? Turning your skull to look down at Sans you silently followed him, having not said a single word since he teleported the two of you. You checked Sans’s SOUL, he felt distant as if he felt an onslaught of various emotions hitting him at once.

The two of you walked until you reached a room with a dark pit in the center of it. Despite there being several machines in the previous halls and rooms you already knew that there was no science involved in this event. Only pure, _dark_ magic.

**_V o i d   m a g i c  ._ **

You stepped forward until you were at the edge of the pit, looking down. Oddly enough you could feel someone trying to pull you back, trying to anchor you down so you wouldn’t fall down. The more you looked the more you noticed the glitches, the more you could feel the Void trying to fill in the glitching spaces. Your expression turned into a horrifying one, turning around to look at Sans. You didn’t waste any time when you trained your eyes on him, lifting up your hand and causing him to freeze.

And suddenly, you were looking into his SOUL.

 

…

 

It was as if you were looking at a completely different Sans. The new (or **_younger_ ** one you should say) Sans was still the same height, maybe a few inches shorter, than the one you were just looking at. The room was bathed in a white glow, the lights brightly illuminating instead of flickering with a dull yellow glow. Past Sans was holding a clipboard and writing down a few things down, looking at the machine (which was in the place of the large hole that was no longer there). Said machine spat out numbers on its screen, codes and information that you didn’t know the problem to. Then suddenly you heard voices, a door opening, and heels against the dark grey tiles.

You looked up and saw two distinctive eyelights: cyan and orange. It was Gaster, clad in a white lab coat and dark clothes instead of the alchemist robes that you remembered him wearing long ago. His posture was less dignified, his steps were prominent but you could see that there was a sluggish quality to his gait, he looked frustrated. He looked frustrated **_and_ ** tired. There was something about his stance that reminded you of the time when he found out when you gave up your empire.

_Lost and afraid._

Following Gaster were a few other monsters who also wore lab coats, clipboards in their claws (or levitating in the air via magic), all trying to get the attention of the estranged skeleton.

 

“Sir the machine isn’t ready—”

 

 **_“I don’t care about ‘readiness’ I care about results!”_ ** Gaster’s voice boomed, causing you to step to the side, your eye sockets full of confusion and surprise from his tone and harshness.

 

What had happened to your friends after the War?

 

“But sir you must—”

 

**_“No.”_ **

 

“Dr. Gaster you need to give the machine time.”

 

**_“There is no time left so spare!”_ **

 

Frustrated, Gaster’s eyes eyelights flashed a dangerous violet. It was a color that only newly-made royal skeletons had. Suddenly, you felt uneasy seeing him with that kind of magic in his eyes. You took a step to the side, watching as Gaster roughly grabbed the machine, shaking it as if he was trying to interrogate it. There was a wild look in his eyes, on the verge of tears almost. If made your SOUL clench at the sight of him so broken. Sans watched with concerned eyelights, reaching up to pat Gaster’s back.

 ** _“dad—”_** _since when was_ _that_ _a thing?_ **_“—you need to listen to marshclaw and ramh!”_**

The estranged scientist pushed Sans back, using his _purple_ magic to summon an onslaught of bones that made it impossible for them to reach Gaster. Silently you watched as Gaster messed with the machine, taking a wire from the machine and wrapping it around his forearm. Suddenly his magic, purple and vibrant, engulfed his hand in purple flames. Your eye sockets finally widened and Gaster, using the machine as a source for power, _created a portal._

 **_“Can you feel it, Nova?”_ ** Gaster called, for a moment you thought that he was actually talking to _you_ , **_“If you’re out there, Aboveground, please come through this portal. Monsters need you, Asgore and Toriel need you - they’ve been disagreeing more since the loss of their child…”_ **

**_“My sons, Sans and Papyrus need you. They’ve never seen another skeleton aside from me.”_ **

**_“We need you.”_ **

**_“We need you to give us_ ** **_HOPE_** ** _."_**

You felt guilt and sadness fill your SOUL. Why didn’t the Void show you this? Why didn’t it show you what would happen to the monsters during the years they would be Underground? Was it the mages who prevented you from seeing? All of these monsters, Asgore, your Royal Skeleton Guard who all lost HOPE because you weren’t there for them… Why weren’t you able to see the result of you staying with Roman? _Why?_

**_W H Y  ?_ **

Before you could register more thoughts you felt Gaster’s magic wavering. He couldn’t handle it, he couldn’t handle the magic. Your magic. **_Void magic._ ** As soon as his eyes turned back into the cyan and orange you knew that something back was going to happen. Gaster suddenly realized his mistake and you felt the all too familiar feeling within his SOUL: **_fear._ ** By now Sans and the other scientists had broken down the sturdy bones, watching in horror as the tiles were ripped from the floor, falling into the Void. Adding onto the horrific things that were happening, all of the scientists (except for Sans and Gaster) were thrown into the inky black abyss. The two skeleton monsters had used their _blue magic_ to hold them down.

 **_“Dad!”_ ** Sans exclaimed, his eyelights shaking as he stretched out a hand, **_“take my hand!”_ **

_But Gaster couldn’t ignore the pull._

You’ve seen this happen before. It happened during the few hundred years that you adjusted to being _alive_ , your father Lato had an encounter with his own personal knight that led to said knight falling into the Void, never to be seen or heard from again. Even after thousands of years had passed your father seemed troubled, always looking over his shoulder with sorrow in his eyes. Two hundred years later he explained you and your siblings that one doesn’t just _cease_ to exist in the Void. He also explained that those who fall into it will survive, though, as a phantom between space and time. Able to see and experience everything: from the birth of the stars, to the cold death of the universe. One could go mad in the Void all alone.

 **_“Forgive me, Sans.”_ ** Gaster’s voice shook you from your thoughts, **_“But I must find_ ** **_them_ ** **_.”_ **

You felt Gaster’s SOUL turn back to white, causing him to topple over his own feet, the portal closed as soon as his body entered. With a horrified expression Sans watched as the portal closed on Gaster’s hands, cutting them off. The white appendages turned black, glitching out before falling into the empty abyss that was left behind. You watched Sans whose eyelight turned cyan once more, and in a fit of rage he summoned his own undertakers (though smaller than yours) exerted his magic onto them, beams of light escaping their mouths. The soundproof, titanium walls preventing anything from escaping the upper floor. You followed Sans (still the vision one) down the elevator where he teleported to confront Asgore. When the skeleton told Asgore of what happened to his Royal Scientist…

Well, his reaction was the same as Toriel’s.

When you returned from Sans’s memories you saw him hunched over on the tiles, a hand clenching where his SOUL would be, baby blue tears leaving his eye sockets. Suddenly you felt sympathy for him, crouching down to take a seat next to him. He didn’t question your actions, still lost in the memories you brought back, you awkwardly rubbed his back. Meanwhile you looked at the inky black pool, eye sockets narrow.

“It’s okay.” You said quietly - remembering what Roman told you, “I know how hard it is.”

“I lost a friend that day, you lost your father.”

 

…

 

When you returned back to Monster City with Sans you didn’t say anything to each other, finding a newfound respect for each other. When you saw Papyrus you noticed how Sans shook his head at you, making you feel even more sympathetic. The younger skeleton didn’t even know his father was dead, to add on to the pain he didn’t even _remember_ him. When Asgore and Toriel confronted you two, the both of you explained that you were just catching up on monster history; they were delighted to see that you were warming up to each other.

That night when you went to bed a single thought came to your mind.

 _I’m going to find their father… I’m going to find my_ **_friend_** _._

 

**_You’re going to be free, Gaster._ **

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	12. RESET

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> It was your first time experiencing it.

Three days after _the incident_ with Sans you found yourself returning to the Underground. Being able to clearly remember the Judgement Hall in detail you could finally pinpoint a couple of locations in the Underground: The Bridge (the place that connected the CORE and hotel), The Throne Room, and Gaster’s Lab. This time you were exploring the Ruins, the place where monsters had first called their Home when they were sealed Underground. On several signs and scattered papers you recognized the Old Tongue of Monsters, a language only read by monsters and the mages. Exploring the entirety of Toriel’s abode, though politely not daring to enter the locked doors and feeling a sense of sorrow when entering the children’s room, you finally reached a clearing.

Sunlight shone from above, capturing your attention to the patch of golden flowers that seemed to glow in the light. Columns adorned the cave entrance, old structures that you spoke of to Ragarus when you first lived in his kingdom. You could only assume that the admiration for the Proxima Empire was brought over to Asgore’s kingdom in the underground. Leaning down to touch the flowers, you tilted your skull, listening quietly… To the footsteps that echoed in the cave.

Turning around you caught sight of Frisk, they were looking at you with their eyes open. You straighten your posture and placed your arms behind your back, hands clasping with a firm clap. You gave the child a smile.

“What brings you here?” Your smile didn’t falter, but you had a feeling they knew you weren’t all too happy with their presence.

“What would happen if I dusted you?” They asked, causing you to narrow your eye-sockets.

“What do you mean?” You demanded, “Don’t speak of such, such **_nonsense_**!”

“Would mom and dad forget about you?” The child took a step forward, “Or would they lose **_HOPE_**?”

Something behind their back caught in the light: a **_knife_**.

Your SOUL flared in response telling you to just impale them with bones and be done with it. Another part of your SOUL also wanted to see what this child could do. Your left hand twitched in response, the phalanges clenching and unclenching behind your cape. Frisk let out a quiet huff, bringing out the knife that glimmered under the sun’s light. You were ready to FIGHT.

“I’ve… I’ve tried out things before,” Frisk admitted, “I wanted to see what would happen if I killed mom… Kill Papyrus… **_Kill Everyone_**. But I’m more than curious to see what would happen if we dusted **_you_**.”

 **_“Enough!”_ ** You exclaimed and lifted your left hand up, hand flaring up in black flames.

The child lunged at you…

And in return you gave them five sharp bones and broken ribs.

Triumphantly you looked at the child who babbled nonsense at you, reaching a hand out from the bony mess that was themself. You didn’t even think about what the others would say. You didn’t even consider the reaction from every single being on the planet, what they would feel upon seeing that a monster **_killed_ ** a human. You didn’t think about the future, only the present. Crouching you picked up the knife and threw it behind you. Meanwhile Frisk, who was dying, looked at you with amusement in their eyes. Sickened at the fact that the child could hold such an expression you yelled at them:

**_“WHAT’S SO FUNNY?”_ **

At that moment you experienced your first **_reset_**.

 

...

 

You woke up to the sight of a child standing next to the foot of your bed. It didn’t take more than thirty seconds for you to realize what was going on. Putting on a faux, shocked expression on your skull you placed a hand on your chestplate. Frisk watched you with curious eyes and you had a feeling if they wondered if you could truly remember what had happened. You let out a laugh.

“Frisk! You startled me!” You pet the side of the bed. “Don’t be afraid, I’m not going to attack you.”

“...Toriel wanted to know what you wanted for breakfast.” Frisk shrugged, “The clothes are there I guess.”

They pointed at the folded clothes and you gave them a thankful smile.

“Surprise me!” You shooed the child out of the room, “Now, I need to change!”

When they closed the door, this time with an airy slam, you slouched (something you rarely did). You couldn’t believe what just happened. A few minutes ago you murdered a human child - one who tried to murder _you_ \- in the Underground. Then the next minute you were back to where you were _three days_ ago. Quickly changing into the clothes, teleporting briefly to put your armor back into your mansion, you opened the door and headed downstairs. This time you ignored Frisk and entered the kitchen, passing by Papyrus and Toriel to grab a few Sugar Crystals, you gave them a smile.

“Asgore and I had plans todaysosorryI’minarush-Bye!” Your words jumbled together as you made it for the door, crunching on a few crystals before heading out.

Realizing that you had no other form of transportation other than your ability to teleport you thought back to the Spider Bakery that you went to. Before you knew it you teleported, catching sight of the bakery before you. You felt the need to just waltz in there and **_ignore_ ** the monsters and humans who gave you curious and shocked faces. _When had there been another skeleton monster living Underground?_

With an oddly morbid mindset you already believed that this isn’t the first, nor the last, time that Frisk would reset. You and your siblings had trained each other to be immune to the effects of a reset, remembering to say and do everything you did before said reset occurred. You were all prepared for the time that would take them back a few days, and sometimes (though it has never happened before) **_hundreds_ ** of years. But this time was different. This time _the_ **_human_ ** _child_ had the ability to reset, and if you learned one thing in your life…

You **_never_ ** underestimate a child.

Looking around you tried your best to ignore the stares, which surprisingly made you uncomfortable, and made your way to the park. That was where Sans usually was at, right? If there was one monster you could trust for now, and you really didn’t want to explain killing Frisk to **Asgore** , it would be Sans. The monster who you learned to trust within one day. Well technically that was _today_ but he’s a skeleton monster. And skeleton monsters would understand your ability to remember timelines… _Right?_ If he truly is Gaster’s child (by the stars you still couldn’t wrap your head around _that_ ) then he would know about resets.

All the while, everywhere you walked stares followed your strut. You assumed that by tonight or in the afternoon, news of your appearance would go ‘viral’ as the humans would say. After a few more minutes of walking you reached the park, looking for Sans’s SOUL in the sea of people who watched your every move. Finally you spotted the short skeleton, who was dozing off. You approached and knocked the sign of the stand, the skeleton woke up, startled. His eyelights trained on you and you could feel confusion and _recognition_ in his SOUL.

“Sans.” You spoke slowly, “What do you remember?”

“huh?” He tilted his skull, “what do you mean by that?”

Him saying that made your situation **_much_ ** more complicated than it needed to be.

“Come, take my hand.” You reached a hand out for him to grab.

He looked at you questioningly ready to ask another question when you shushed him. Turning your skull to see that the bystanders were getting used to your appearance, though some even held their phones out, you turned your attention back to Sans. From the depths of your mind you remembered words that you haven’t spoken in a long time. You thought back to the time when Gaster first taught you how to talk in his font, your eye-sockets held no emotion in them.

 

**_“I know what happened to Gaster and there's something important I need to tell you."_ **

 

At that moment he took your hand without another word, and you teleported the two of you into your home, far from Monster City. You teleported so quickly that Sans need a moment to recover from the sudden action. Grabbing his knees and hunching over. You quickly apologized and motioned for him to sit on the couch.

“alright.” Sans started, “spill.”

“We experienced a reset,” You explained, “I murdered Frisk, something that happened three days from now, and in return they reset back to today. _No_ - ** _no_ ** I see that expression right there. I had a good reason to end their life. They tried to _dust_ me.”

Sans looked as if he was about to protest but listened anyway.

“Don’t be so surprised,” You rolled your optics, “I’m not so _buddy-buddy_ with them so ending them wasn’t hard for me.”

“and what do you know about gaster?” Sans asked.

“I know how he disappeared, and that everyone except you and I don’t remember him existing.” You explained, “I didn’t want to go through seeing that again so I came to you first because well… I trust you? This seems a bit weird but yeah, we were mutuals before the reset.”

“but uh… i don’t remember any of this happening.” Sans replied, you nodded.

“Yeah I can see that… But the point is: Frisk can reset.” You clasped your hands and rubbed them nervously.

“so you’re not concerned with the fact that the kid tried to dust you?” Sans asked, not believing you.

“They dusted your brother.” You felt Sans’s SOUL freeze when you said that, “Based on what they’ve told me and what I’ve seen in a dream before, they’ve probably dusted everyone including **_you_ **.”

“what’re you saying?” Sans crossed his arms, “you want to _hurt_ the kid?”

“What? No!” You exclaimed, “Forget about them! I want you to help me with scienc-y stuff.”

“define... **_scienc-y._ ** ” Sans said with a flat tone, “if you want me to help you bring back gaster… why can’t you do it yourself?”

“It’s… **_complicated_**.” You rubbed your ulna, “It’s not like I could talk to the Void and ask it to bring Gaster back, or-or replace Frisk with a nicer kid. Or prevent the humans from sealing monster underground. We have to find him, and I need _your_ help.”

“just ask alphys about this stuff,” He looked unsure, “i’m… i’m not the same monster i was before gaster _fell_.”

“ ** _No_** , out of the question. We can’t let Frisk know, no one but _us_ can know.”

Sans stood up, looking at the clock in your living room, it was one o’ clock now. An hour since you left the house to talk with Sans, you looked down at him and sighed. Reaching your hand out again.

“You should… Get back to your stand now.” You paused, “Those hot dogs aren’t going to sell themselves, you know?”

“to be **_frank_ ** they’re not hot dogs. they’re water sausages.” He joked, causing you to make a face you could only describe as _disgust_.

“Don’t do that like, _ever_.”

“prepare yourself _voidster_ , ‘cause my bro loves puns as much as i do.”

He took your hand and you teleported him back to his stand. The people were shocked while the monsters seemed a little neutral when they saw Sans was with you. Seeing a familiar face always made the situation better. Saying farewell to him you teleported back to your mansion where you went to rest, before the reset you stayed with Asgore and Toriel, but now Frisk’s intentions seemed a bit unclear. As much as you didn’t want the child to be in the same house as your king and queen you felt that they wouldn’t hurt them. The way they were talking about killing you made you think.

Did they do this in the Underground as well? Did they truly murder everyone, the monsters who you grew to call **_family_**? If they had the chance to dust you to see how everyone would react… Would they do it? Well, they already did it one, would they do it _again?_

No guidance, no advice, **_nothing_**.

This timeline was so much **_worse_ ** than you anticipated it to be: friends were gone, truths were unveiled, and children with knives had the ability to reset the timeline upon will.

You thought that the situation wouldn’t get any worse…

Until you received a message from Asgore that made you want to scream out loud in frustration:

**_Nova! Monsters and humans have seen you walking around Monster City and were concerned about their safety upon seeing you teleport. I explained your situation to the President, who seemed alarmed by your presence and he told me that he wanted to meet you._ **

 

H e   w a n t e d   t o   m e e t  y o u .

 

_What would your family do in this situation?_

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	13. To the Capital

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Washington D.C., you haven't been there in ages.  
> After what you've seen, it's time for you to properly JUDGE Frisk.  
> 

Today was the day that you would officially meet the President. To some it was the best day of their lives, some the worst. For you it would be one of the worst days you would experience. You weren’t too thrilled explaining yourself to the President, and you had a feeling that journalists and the news reporters would be there to record your conversation with him. What was so special about you anyway? You were a former monarch older than Asgore and Toriel, you were a commander in a war that happened thousands of years ago. But who were you now? Just another monster? Someone who wanted to fix the world but didn’t know _how?_

You were wearing your armor, making your form feel sharp and stiff (though that could’ve just been you having a sour mood that day). Within a few seconds you teleported to Asgore’s house where the said monster, alongside _the child,_ were waiting. You gave them a smile, bowing your head to greet the royal monsters.

“Good morning Asgore, _young ambassador_.” You kept your head down for a second longer to meet eye-lights with Frisk's eyes, they turned away guiltily, _good_.

“Nova.” Asgore greeted back happily, “So glad that you came on time. We’re just waiting for Undyne and Alphys now.”

“Why are they coming?” You asked and raised your arms up in defense, “No offense but what do _they_ have to do with me meeting the president?”

“Undyne is the captain of my Royal Guard, she’s there to protect us in case if anything goes… wrong.” Asgore continued, “Alphys is there to explain the science-part of your magic.”

“But she doesn’t know a single thing about me.” You crossed your arms, “What makes you think that she’ll comprehend where I come from? It takes one to know one. Can you _imagine_ that? **_A skeleton royal scientist?_ ** ”

Asgore looked uncomfortable and confused when you mentioned a skeleton, Frisk looked at you with pensive eyes. Rolling your eye lights you turned around, seeing a car come into view. The doors opened and out came Undyne and Alphys, both were wearing suits. Though from the shiny glint that came from the car's trunk you could practically feel Undyne's SOUL yearn to put on the armor. You stepped to the side as the two monsters greeted Asgore and Frisk.

"Hey Asgore!" Undyne pulled the king into a crushing hug. "Sorry about the wait, me and Alph' were trying to find the right clothes."

"It's perfectly fine." Asgore smiled back, patting Undyne's back.

"Hey kid!" The fish monster reached down to ruffle Frisk's hair, "How're ya doing?"

"Good 'dyne!" Frisk smiled back.

"A-And hi.... Hi your highness." Alphys spoke as she and Undyne bowed their heads at you.

You frowned.

"Please none of that." You crossed your arms. "I resigned that title _long_ ago."

“Oh..kay.” Alphys gave you a rather awkward smile, embarrassment clearly showing in both her face and SOUL. “Just Nova then, right?”

You nodded.

“Well!” Asgore clasped his paws together, talking in a chipper tone, “I suppose we should head to the airport now, don’t want to miss our flight.”

Making your way into the vehicle, which was a van with a slightly raised roof, you entered first. Despite being thinner than Asgore, your horns made it almost impossible for you to sit properly next to someone of your height without hitting their head. You took the back right seat, leaning against the window as the others entered the car. Frisk and Alphys took the middle-row seats while Undyne and Asgore took the driver and passenger seat, with Undyne being the driver.

“We’re heading to the Ebott International Airport first where we’ll take a 2-hour flight to the capital.” Undyne explained as she drove out of Monster City, “Today will just be us getting situated in D.C., and then tomorrow we’ll meet President Miller. Asgore, ya’ have any plans for where we’ll be sleeping?”

“I arranged a hotel for us to sleep in.” Asgore replied, turning his head to look at the three of you behind, “I hope this wasn’t too much of a surprise to you, Nova. I really wanted to show you around the capital.”

“It’s perfectly fine.” You smirked, “Though I’ve probably been there more times than you.”

With the sounds of laughter filling the car fading away, you closed your eyesockets and began to rest.

 

…

 

You were the last royal skeleton that was created by the Void. A tall monster that knew nothing but the Void, a confused and scared being at the time. That was back when you couldn’t separate your feelings from your magic, too confused to _not_ lash out at the skeleton soldiers that waited for your creation. They didn’t retaliate when you dusted five of them, only watching and waiting for… someone. You were so close to dusting more when _he_ arrived into the room. If it weren’t for him you probably would’ve caused more damage than you already did, cause damage to others. The day you were created was the same day you gained **LOVE**.

It was also the day you gained a friend, Proxima Lato.

He was also younger back then, at least nine thousand years older than you, yet he greeted you as if you knew him already. When the other Proximas joined to see you, you realized that there was more to them and more to you. Although they never told you directly, you had a vision of another timeline, one where you would take down a darker path if you hadn’t seen them. If it weren’t for Lato… Your siblings… You would’ve taken a darker path, like his knight Calibri…

Like    **_P r o x i m a   K a r l o   ._ **

It only took a week for the other ten royal skeletons to pamper you into their new item of fascination: the youngest and last member of the Proxima Empire. Although they constantly were around you, especially Proxima Song who constantly told you tales about Proxima Lato, said monster always took the time out of his busy day to make sure that you had some alone time. No wonder so many people regarded him with the utmost respect, from both monsters and humans alike. Everybody admired him, he was the definition of a good ruler. There were so many things that Proxima Lato was.

 

A kind soul.

 

A good monster.

 

A father.

 

A brother.

 

_D u s t  ._

 

…

 

One thing you were thankful for, was the fact that monsters couldn’t tell how _you_ felt. If that was the case then the entire airport would feel tense, reflecting your own emotions of being surrounded by so many SOULs. Since this was Ebott you already knew that registered monsters would be at the airport. But not like… _this._ Practically the whole kingdom was there to support King Asgore, though you could clearly see that many monsters were beginning to support you.

Everyone still didn’t know what to think of you.

Were you a friend? A foe?

Were you related to those two skeletons?

Nonetheless you pushed on and strolled with a stance that showed power and pride, a presence of authority that no one could ignore. Refusing to let thousands of lessons (which were how to properly greet subjects) go to waste you smiled back at the monsters. HOPE filled their SOULs and your smile became wider. Throughout the crowd you could see a few familiar faces. Toriel, who chose to stay in Ebott to watch over Monster City; Sans, who seemed more intent on watching Frisk’s every movement; and Papyrus, who looked thrilled to see his friends.

He even wore a shirt over his armor that said ‘Have a safe trip!’. In his gloves was white cardboard: drawings of you, Undyne, Alphys, Frisk, and Asgore (that looked surprisingly **_good_** ) plastered over the white material. With a final cheer the monsters said their farewells when the airport’s doors closed. Through the glass windows of the airport you could see monsters of all types, hearing their cheers even through the jet and glass. Joining you and the others were four human bodyguards that escorted you all into the jet. You’ve ridden in a plane a few times so you took a seat quickly, tightening the seat belt to the max - though you would just need to use _blue magic_ to hold you down. Your skeletal structure made it hard for you to be held down by just restraints.

Across from you sat Asgore and to his right was Frisk. Somewhere in the back sat Undyne and Alphys who talked in hushed voices, rambling about ‘anime’ in girlish voices. Two of the bodyguards were in the front while the other two were in the back. The speaker beeped and the pilot’s voice resonated throughout the jet.

“Alright everyone, I hope you’re all having a wonderful morning. My name is Richard Bryce and I will be your captain today. We are departing to Washington D.C., making this a 2-hour flight. Skies are clear and we are having lovely 70° weather. Our flight assistants, Josephine and Darla, will go over the safety procedures. Just a reminder that small electronic items like phones are only allowed in airplane or game mode.”

As the jet made its way on the runway you noticed how Frisk rubbed their hands together nervously. You rose a bonebrow and leaned forward, hands gripping the armrests tightly. _So they’re afraid of planes, but_ **_not_ ** _afraid to face monsters in a fight?_

“Scared of planes?” You asked.

“No…” They shook their head nervously, “The feeling of flying.”

Humming you nodded, relaying to the fact that teleporting felt exactly like this. As if the weight on you was gone and you in a state of being in the air but still resting on the ground. Rather confusing but one could get used to it over time. Facing forward you watched with a smile when light snores stole your attention, Asgore was already fast asleep. The poor king was probably exhausted after this past year, there was still more to discuss with the President too. Frisk quickly busied themselves with a pair of headphones that were in their carry-on background, turning on their phone to listen to music. Undyne and Alphys were still talking about anime, you eyed the screen on one of the chairs: 12:34.

Now it was time to get things straight.

Frisk was _not_ bad, they really weren’t if one could think about it.

Bad was an _understatement_.

 

They were so, _so_ much worse than that.

 

For one to be willing to commit the things that they’ve done, how many times have they gained LOVE? From the evidence you had they probably reset a few times in the Underground, maybe the mage’s magic caused this to happen. Whatever the reason Frisk already reset more than one time, more than you’ve ever experienced. And in those resets they dusted at least one, or everyone from what they’ve admitted, monster. They abused their powers for their own amusement. It was horrifying that a child could do this. But then again they were a _human_ child. Two things that shouldn’t mix together.

Bad really was an understatement to describe them.

But you couldn’t kill them anymore, now that you knew that they could reset. You could kill them a thousand times and they would come back as if nothing had happened, sadly this was the thing that your father had always dreaded. A human who could reset the timeline. When the Human-Skeleton War began, and even before that, Lato had always wondered what would happen if several mages were present. Would their determination bring them all to separate timelines? Would they be unable to reset due to there being too many beings with the power to reset? What would happen if they knew how to reset during the war? What would Proxima Lato do now?

…Spare Frisk.

As much as you hated this option, them freeing the monsters from the Underground (you would have to look more into that, how did they absorb other human SOULs?) was something that was ‘good’ enough for you to leave them alone. You would need to use them to your advantage, get more information out of them. But you still wouldn’t trust them. Never, no matter how many goody-two-shoe faces they would pull off, you saw their SOUL. They were friendly and kind, yes, but they had that distance that made them almost seem inhuman. It was strange, but you’ve never experienced gaining LOVE like _that_. You could only image how gaining LOVE has taken a toll on Frisk’s personality.

Malicious was a good word to describe them.

 

…

 

Two uneventful hours passed and you had finally arrived in the capital. You and the others were greeted by four sharply dressed humans, all female, that gave you all smiles.

“Hello your majesty,” One with glasses said, “My name is Veronica Williams and my associates and I will be your assistants for the next couple of days.”

“It’s a pleasure to meet you all.” Asgore gave them curt nods, you did the same.

“I hope you don’t mind but we will all take separate tours around the capital before heading to your hotels.” Veronica said.

“It’s fine.” You replied.

“Alright!” She gave you a thankful smile, “We’ll see you all tomorrow then! King Asgore and Frisk will come with me. Miss Lisa Wilkes will be with Alphys while Mrs. Lana Wilkes will be with Undyne. Miss Celeste Lyubova will be with Miss Nova.”

“Just _Nova_ ,” You corrected Veronica then rose a bone brow, “You know all of our names.”

“Of course!” Veronica chuckled, “Everyone is talking all about you guys. We’re all ecstatic to meet you guys, it’s rather exciting to think about.”

The others left with their assistants, leaving you with your own assistant. She looked at you with nervous eyes, almost blushing out of embarrassment. You rose another bonebrow and let out a soft cough, bringing her out of whatever spell that made her unable to look away from you. Her SOUL was shaking with embarrassment, which was clear, but also… Excitement? You shook your skull and took a step forward.

“Just take me to the hotel, please?” Miss… Lyubova nodded and opened the door for you with a shaky smile.

“O-Of course!” She motioned for you to enter the vehicle, “Right this way er....”

“Sir, miss, it doesn’t matter.” You rolled your eyelights for the billionth time, “Just get me wherever I need to go please.”

As soon as you entered your hotel room you feel fast asleep.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> FGDFGJGJN THANK YOU GUYS FOR 600+ HITS!!  
> I DIDN'T THINK THAT THIS WOULD HAPPEN AAAAA
> 
> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	14. Charlie Raymond Miller

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Politics are boring, as usual. President Miller seems nice but naive.  
> You finally get your citizenship with just a few strokes of a pen.

Being exhausted and experiencing jet-lag were two things that made you a very agitated monster. Sitting upright in your bed, you turned your attention to the blinds. Pushing them back with your magic light blue light filled the room as the morning sky filled your bedroom window. The hotel that Asgore picked gave you perfect view of the White House, was that intentional? Shaking your skull you hopped out of bed and leaned closer to the window. Humans were jogging and biking, even at a time early as right now, most joined by a partner. Fascinated you watched them with curious eyes, resting your chin in your hands. Before you grew to hate them, humans were an obsession for you, taking after Proxima Lato who often spent his time around humans.

Then again, who didn’t take after Proxima Lato? Why did he and the others not— ** _No._ ** Your face contorted into one of pain, looking away from the window to grasp the chair beside you. You refused to think about _that_. Thinking about it would only bring more pain and suffering, leaving more questions than answers. You needed to get ready anyway, take your mind off of the negative thoughts that plagued your mind. Teleporting back to your mansion you replaced your grey armor with the white one (the same one you used to negotiate with General Maximus and Lucius), and replaced your purple clothing items with yellow ones.

Now _this_ was what monsters thought of when someone mentioned the Proxima Empire. Pure and bright, bringing nothing but good intentions to humans and monsters. This is what _they_ wanted the people to see. Not some dark and gloomy monster with too much pain on their SOUL. No one wants a ruler like that. Good for you to resign your title… Right?

Returning back to your hotel room you fixed any armor that was off and checked your cape for any unnecessary stains or dirt. You entered the bathroom and checked yourself once more (though had to hunch over since the room was made for humans). Still pristine as ever, still giving your bones a glow that shone long ago. Just as you were ready to open the door, four quick and hasty knocks were made. Curious and cautious you slowly opened the door and relaxed. It was your human assistant, whom you already forgot the name to, who clutched her tablet tightly. Her SOUL didn’t have any ill intentions filling it, why was she so nervous?

“Are you alright?” You asked, she jumped in alarm.

 “Y-Yeah! Perfectly fine!” She gave you a simple and looked at her tablet, swiping up. “So we’re meet..meeting up with King Asgore and President Miller. If you have any questions please ask me.”

 Her words were hasty, coming out of her mouth faster than you could understand. Nonetheless you managed to pick out what you needed to hear and nodded your head. Your assistant walked a few spaces behind you, giving you all the room you needed, she eyed your armor and skull every once in a while - face _still_ pink.

 

**_Oh._ **

 

Despite being an expert at reading SOULs, with the exception of Frisk, you never realized that people liked you like _that_. You little assistant had a _crush_ on you. Unfortunately for her, you didn’t reciprocate the feelings. As soon as the two of you entered the elevator she looked at the wall, opposite of you. You brought out your phone and used your magic to create ‘skin’, which was colored grey and was translucent. Swiping through your phone, which was still blowing up from texts - especially from _Jessica_ \- you went on the news app. You expected for there to be a few articles about _Asgore_ seeing the President. But no.

 Most of them were about _you_ meeting the President. People were curious about your identity, just like monsters, and many speculated that you were the true ruler of the Dreemurr Kingdom. Did they assume that because of your horns? Well you certainly were no goat monster but you did rule... a different kingdom. You couldn’t wait to see the faces on the reporters when you would tell them that you were Aboveground this entire time. Would they still be scared of you? Angry? _Destructive?_ You already had the scenarios played out in your head, like makeshift visions only you didn’t know what was going to happen.

 Not being able to _see_ was horrible.

 Especially since there were so many things that could go wrong at any point in time, you needed your visions now. Before you could think about reasons why you couldn’t see, the elevator doors opened and you and your assistant were flooded with reporters in your face. Alarmed and almost throwing an attack at them you jumped back. Your assistant put up a brave face, which failed since she seemed more kind than brave, she pushed past the reporters. Surprised at her actions, she was at least 5’3, you followed her. Tilting your skull whenever a reporter brought their microphones too close. It was loud in the hotel lobby, cameramen recording you _walk_.

 

_“Are you a girl or boy—”_

 

_“What do you thin—”_

 

_“Are you good or bad?”_

 

_“What is your opinion on—”_

 

When the human bodyguards came, thank the stars, the reporters and cameramen were pushed back. A car was waiting for you outside and Miss Lyubova (finally you remembered her name) opened the door for you, quickly hopping in. Those reporters were persistent and you didn’t want them to get any closer than they were. Did Asgore have to go through this everyday? Oh his poor SOUL. Miss Lyubova took a seat next to you and quickly busied herself with her phone, placing her tablet in a bag, and texted someone. Was that Asgore’s assistant that she was texting. Smiling you tapped her shoulder, making jump in alarm..

 “Does it always get like this?” You asked and she nodded, still shaken at the fact that you touched her shoulder.

 You were having too much fun playing with her emotions

 "Yes! Especially when King Asgore comes. The reporters always go to him.” Miss Lyubova said, feeling a little more comfortable around you.

 The driver began its journey when the bodyguards entered the vehicle. Watching as the voices of the reporters became quieter and their forms out of view you turned away from your assistant, looking out of the window. Driving past the buildings that reminded you of Ebott, 15 minutes passed until you arrived in front of the White House. Soldiers and bodyguards checked in with your assistant and bodyguards. It didn’t take them a second glance at you before they opened the doors without a word. The meeting room was crowded with congressmen and reporters alike with the President and Asgore talking to each other at the head of the table. Sitting quietly Undyne and Alphys watched as you entered the room, their facing showing distress from the amount of voices speaking at once.

 When the doors shut President Miller eyed you (though how could he not at your height?) and immediately sat down, Asgore following after, causing the humans in the room to turn around and eye you. The expressions that you were given were ones of shock, surprise, and awe. The room became silent, with the occasional clicking of the cameras as you walked past them. You walked past the seats until you found the empty one next to President Miller. Said president stood up once more and _you_ offered your hand _first_ , giving the President a smile.

 

**_CHARLIE RAYMOND MILLER_ **

**_LV: 1      |      HP: 20       |      AT: 1      |      DF: 1_ **

_* Supports monsters more than humans._

 

“President Miller, it’s a honour to meet you.” Surprisingly he took your hand eagerly, giving you a big grin.

“It certainly is an honour!” He continued, “An honour to meet _you_ , I mean! Proxima Nova-is it? Oh gosh, I’m shaking your hand too long aren’t I?”

The President let go of your hand and you both took your seats, the meeting began.

 “From what King Asgore has told me you were left aboveground. For how long?” President Miller asked you.

 “At least 200 hundred years.” You replied, almost grimacing, “Though counting this year it would be at around 268 years, since the Barrier was made when the War ended.”

 

Several murmurs were heard throughout the room at this.

 

“And why couldn’t you go into the Underground with the others?” He continued.

 “As you and King Asgore have talked about a few months ago, mages were a thing of the past, though I’m not sure if they are still present at the moment. The mages that created the Barrier made a spell that prevented _all_ monsters from entering and exiting the Barrier.” You explained, “I tried everything I could to break it, and have _tried_ to enter it on several occasions, but I am… uninformed when it comes to the nature of human magic.”

 “How did you manage to hide from humans?” A reporter asked curiously, “Did you stay in hiding this whole time?”

 “No” You shook your head. “I found a spell that changed my appearance.”

 “Can you show us?” A voice spoke from the back.

 You turned to President Miller, who gave you a nod of a approval, you stood up and raised a hand above your head. The humans watched curiously, some cautious, as your hand was doused in a gray aura. Quickly swiping your hand down, the same dark aura engulfed your body, starting from the head to your boots. Quickly as it came the aura was gone, and the humans watched as the monster was no longer there - but a human - stood in its place.

 “And this is how I managed to survive all these years.” You explained to the first reporter, using your magic to turn back into your true form, returning back to your seat.

 

More murmurs were heard at this information.

 

“Do other monsters know how to do that _thing_?” Another reporter asked.

 “No. That spell is one of many that are lost to time after mages destroyed most of them. I was just lucky in finding it.” You replied.

 "How can we trust you then?” A congressman asked, “You could change yourself to look like the President and we wouldn’t even know.”

 “I trusted that you all wouldn’t do anything to the monsters when they escaped from the Underground.” You said in a neutral tone, trying not to sneer, “How am I to know if you aren’t going to start another war? Or enslave monsters?”

 Both were things that would’ve happened in another timeline.

 “All I’m saying is that we’ve never seen you this past year.” The congressmen said in a haughty tone, “We don’t even know what kind of magic you have and it certainly doesn’t look like _their_ magic!”

 He pointed at Alphys, Undyne, then to Asgore. You felt his SOUL shake in anger, it was clear to you that you found the one human who obviously was against monsters. You kept your cool but your mouth was drawn into a thin line, straightening your posture to tower a little more over him.

 

 You eyelights dimmed for a moment.

 

 Asgore’s expression showed that of alarm.

 

You turned your skull to him when you felt his SOUL shake in fear. Your eyelights glowed a little brighter and the monster king calmed down. Patting the President’s shoulder, Asgore spoke in a loud voice.

“Well, I think we are getting off-topic now.” Asgore nodded to himself, President Miller noticed the change in atmosphere and nodded also.

“Ah yes!” President Miller clapped his hands together and pulled out a file from his bag, it had your name on it.

“I suppose you having a human form meant that you registered as a citizen of this country.” You nodded. “But we still need to register you as a civilian under the Dreemurr Kingdom.”

“Mhm. Of course.” You reached and slid the file over to your side of the table. You opened it and quickly flipped through the pages: just the basic information and rules, laws, guidelines, and process of becoming a civilian.

“Is this it?” You asked with an amused smile, “I thought the process of becoming a citizen are _much_ more complicated than this, time costly too. I’ve had _human_ friends for years who are still going through this process”

President Miller’s face dropped for a moment, sweat beading on his forehead.

“Monsters are different.” His reply was more of a question but you nodded anyway.

The rest of the meeting went like that: with you reading the file (even though skimming through it was enough for you) and answering any questions that the reporters had for you. They were eager to know about you, but you kept the information about your past hidden - they wouldn’t know about the Human-Skeleton War, your siblings, or your ability to see SOULs. You only told them that you were Asgore’s JUDGE, able to read a character (instead of SOULs) and that you were left behind after fighting a mage. There was the occasional comment or sneer from a human that made you stop and glower at them, but Asgore was there to keep you sane.

You filled the informational page with your details, first name - Nova, last name - Proxima (was that how your name worked? Lato never told you why you were called Proximas). Birthdate? Hmmm, scratch that off.

By the time you were done and President Miller and King Asgore signed your papers, the meeting was off. Since you and your assistant were in a different part of the hotel, you and her left first - not wanting to answer any more questions from the reporters. You were tired, you needed rest. How long has it been since you signed papers and answered the questions of curious humans? _Not long enough._

 

You really weren’t cut out for this job.

 

…

 

The first thing you saw when you fell asleep was the sight of President Miller at your feet, a thick red hole through his forehead. He was dead, there were screams and shouts. Shocked at the cadaver at your feet you looked around, eyelights looking at the humans that ran around, scared for their lives. Your SOUL clenched when you spotted dust at the podium of a stand, the dust getting on the country flag and a very familiar golden crown. Turning your head there was also a dust-covered lab coat not too far away from you. You ran out of the room that emptied out quickly, the screams of men and women forever engraved in your mind.

You spotted Undyne throwing spears at… _someone_. Someone up above in the skyscrapers, a dark figure ran away from the scene. Frisk (who you remembered was attending other matters with foreign leaders) was also there, they were focused on a figure not too far away from you. Realizing that they were staring right through you, you turned around and froze. There you were, in your dark armor and purple cape, fighting off humans with glowing weapons. There was dust on their clothes, and you (vision you) looked as if you were about to give in. _What was happening?_ Another human came from behind and gave a swift punch to vision you’s spine, your SOUL quivered at the sound.

 _That_ attack was enough to turn vision you to dust.

You turned around and saw that Frisk was gone, and Undyne was also turning to dust. You were confused and worried for the future. Was this the fate of you and King Asgore? _Dust_? Slowly you felt the feeling of waking up and closed your eye-sockets, unable to handle the sight of dust once more. But as you woke up a sudden realization came to you. The atmosphere in your vision… It was crackling with magic.

 

And that magic came from the humans.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	15. Their Royal Knight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Who is Roman?

**_??? P.O.V._ **

**_10234 P.W._ **

 

Several eyes greeted you with eagerness and happiness, the eyelights ranging in color. They were mostly neons, with the exception of the flat salmon and dull red colored eyelights. _Skeleton monsters,_ the thought came to your head before you knew it, _just like me_. One thing you noticed, was that they all looked the same, same head-shape, but you could tell that their SOULs were different. Capes that matched their eyelights made their dark armor seem almost _beautiful_ in a strange way, you opened your mouth to speak, but the skeleton with dull red eyes interrupted you.

“Welcome to the Proxima Empire…  _Roman_.” His voice was deep and calm, instantly making you feel relaxed and at ease.

You tilted your skull and looked down, you were wearing armor just like them - though you didn’t have a cape. Looking back up the other skeletons were standing above you, making you feel almost _small_. The one with dull red eyes gave you a hand to grab. Taking it he pulled you you, and you noticed that you were all at the same height.

“Do you know what your mission is?” The dull red-eyed one asked, you looked at him for a moment.

_My mission: to protect the Proxima Empire._

The thought came subconsciously, as if you already knew what you were doing. The one will dull red eyes nodded, seeing your expression change. You couldn’t help but stare at the cracks that adorned his skull, they were deep, greatly contrasting against his light skull. Suddenly another voice, the same as the red-eyed one, was heard. At the same time you felt an arm wrap around your shoulders.

“So tense!” He sounded _exactly_ like the red-eyed one, this one had neon yellow eyelights. “Calibri you’re scaring him! _Sorry_ , he just gets that kind of reaction from others. Anyways I’m Lora!”

Lora had two scars running down from his mouth, _strange_. Unsure what to do you simply nodded along with the ecstatic skeleton who pushed you towards the others, all of them had equally excited faces.

“Alright! So, you already know that dark and gloomy other there is Calibri and I’m Lora. From left to right now! That’s Verdana, Volkhov, Fira, Libre, Roboto, and Georgia! You got it?”

Your head was churning at the information but as silent as you were, you still nodded.

 **Verdana:** magenta rings for eyelights, scar running from his left eye across his nasal bone.

 **Volkhov:** royal purple eyelights, scar running from his right eye across his nasal bone, connects with another scar to his mouth.

 **Fira:** dark blue eyelights, lidded eyes.

 **Libre:** forest green eyelights, looks amused.

 **Roboto:** bright cyan eyelights, you feel like he knows something the others don’t.

 **Georgia:** salmon-colored eyelights, has a scar running from their left eye down to their jaw.

“Hey, where’s Helvetica?” Lora asked, looking around the well-decorated room.

“ _Stars_ , who knows?” The one named ‘Verdana’ said, “Probably frolicking with Proxima Arvo and the humans.”

“Humans?” You asked curiously, “What is a ‘human’?”

“Ah, he speaks.” Calibri, the dull-eyed one (and up until now you didn’t notice the cracks and scars that littered his face), “Humans are—”

“Ah, ah, ah.” Lora reentered the conversation, “Remember, you’re not allowed to do the talking, _Calibri_. We all know how you feel about humans ever since **_Proxima Karlo_ ** —”

“Oh, Lora! I hope you aren’t filling the new knight with ideas.” A calm voice echoed throughout the room and all of you turned around.

There were eleven figures standing at the entrance, wearing unique and intricate armor that complimented their looks. The one that caught your attention the most, was the tallest one - which was at least eight feet tall - and the one that stood right behind the tall one. You met eyes with the one that was hiding, and they gave you a smile: full of cheer and glee. Embarrassed you turned your skull away from their excited and curious eyes, it was almost as if they were staring right into your SOUL.

“Your majesties!” Lora exclaimed and kneeled down, to which the others did - except for _Calibri_.

Instead, the dull-eyed monster walked over to stand next to ‘Proxima Lato’ who, despite looking calm and collected, went rigid when the shorter skeleton came near, almost as if he was waiting for Calibri to do something out of the blue.

“C’mon Lora!” A beautiful skeleton with light gray armor and blue clothing spoke in a sing- **_song_ ** voice, “You already forgot that we are to meet with _the Sultanah of the East_ and _Queen Nefertari_ tonight!”

“Hmph, Song sure loves humans more than Arvo, that’s for sure.” Lora muttered quietly before he pat you on the back a few times, rising and walking over to the horned skeleton, waving farewell to his comrades.

Soon enough the others left with their ‘Proximas’, leaving you alone with Calibri, Proxima Lato, and the skeleton who still hid behind said Proxima. Proxima Lato stepped forward, causing you to finally kneel down. He chuckled.

“No need for that, Roman.” Lato leaned down to grab your shoulder pad, lifting you up until you were standing, “I see that you’ve been well acquainted with the other royal knights. Well, I’d like you to meet the youngest member of the Proxima family: Proxima Nova.”

As if on cue the shy skeleton sidestepped into your view, though you weren’t sure to feel sympathetic for their attitude (you were still dazed and confused after being made, the memory of the inky black abyss engraved in your SOUL) or amazed by their stature and form. They wore dark gray armor and a purple cape that dragged on the ground. Their spine was exposed but covered in a black cloth, the same black cloth covered their humerus. Their mouth was still drawn into a smile, even when they leaned down a little to meet eyes with you. Suddenly feeling meek you turned away from their gaze once more, your orange-yellow eyelights turning to the black puddle behind you.

“He’s shy.” Their voice chimed, “I like him. He’s **_adorable_**.”

A yellow blush glowed across your nasal bone.

Finally getting the courage to meet their eyes, you felt HOPE and happiness emitting from their SOUL (certainly no one else felt it, since Lato and Calibri looked fine) and suddenly, you relaxed. You gave returned the smile and watched as Proxima Nova jumped in glee, grabbing Proxima Lato’s arm as they squealed.

“Did you see that Lato!? He _smiled_ at me!”

“Who wouldn’t?” Lato replied, chuckling at the younger skeleton’s excitement, “You’ve already become such a great addition to the Proxima family. I guess even the Void agreed that it was time to make a knight for you.”

Silently watching their exchange you turned your attention to Calibri, who regarded you with emotionless eyes. You turned away, feeling a somewhat hostile aura coming from him. Calibri’s first question to you suddenly came to you mind.

_“Do you know what your mission is?”_

You looked back at Proxima Nova, who gave you another happy smile.

You suddenly knew the answer.

 

**_To protect Proxima Nova from all harm._ **

 

…

 

You always knew that there was something off about Proxima Lato’s knight, Calibri. The way he would always sneer at humans that would visit the Grand Palace of Karlo, it was strange and unnatural. But whenever you would ask the other knights about it, they would look away with nervous eyes, telling you that it was just Calibri being himself. Even Nova, who told you _everything_ about the Proxima Empire, didn’t want to talk about it. It wasn’t until Proxima Lato himself came to you one day and explained everything. Calibri wasn’t _his_ knight, in fact, he was the knight of Proxima Karlo. You had never learned anything about the first Proxima so you didn’t understand why talking about him was so hard.

You didn’t understand until Proxima Lato told you of the **_horrible_ ** things that Proxima Karlo did.

Fueled by his **_DETERMINATION_** , something that skeleton monsters were able to have without melting like regular monsters (due to being made from the **_Void_** , something dove into a whole new subject), Proxima Karlo saw humans as lowly beings. He went so far as to putting the humans up in chains, forcing them to do his bidding. Many humans didn’t survive Proxima Karlo’s tyrannical rule. But he didn’t stop there, he thought his powers were only limited to him - and believed himself to be higher than **_every_ ** living being. SOULs were taken, human lives were ended, he was going to mold the timeline into his own image: starting with the _creation_ and _death_ of Proxima Lato.

Proxima Lato was created to be Proxima Karlo’s undoing, a beacon of hope for monsters and humans. Proxima Karlo saw what was going to happen to him as soon as Proxima Lato was created. Proxima Karlo found a simple answer: don’t give up part of his SOUL to create Proxima Lato. It was easy as that, right? No.

Somehow the Void found a way to stop Proxima Karlo, and created a being without a SOUL.

And that being was Proxima Lato.

Already knowing what his mission was, you listened in awe as Proxima Lato explained how he used his magic to force Proxima Karlo into the Void, effectively ending his tyrannical rule and starting a new era. Curiously, this also made you realize that Proxima Lato had no SOUL. SOULless beings were known to feel nothing, being apathetic beings. So why was Lato different? He was made that way, a kind and patient monster that truly didn’t understand why he was doing these things, but another simple answer was left: he did it for the timeline. Everything he did, he did for the timeline. Oddly cold, but came with a false blanket of hope that Proxima Lato was always the kind and caring monster that he was, even if he didn’t understand his feelings.

Which left you two with the subject of _Calibri_.

Proxima Karlo’s personal knight, who pledged his undying loyalty until their deaths. Proxima Karlo’s ‘death’ came and passed, but the beliefs and ideals that Proxima Karlo forced upon Calibri, that damage has been done; and cannot be reversed. Calibri may be a good monster inside, but the things he’s done - the lives he’s taken - and the things that Proxima Karlo made him believe, Calibri distanced himself from the pain he’s suffered.

That was why Proxima Lato allowed Calibri to be his knight, for they both pushed their emotions aside for one goal: to protect the timeline. Unfortunately Calibri could never let go of his memories of Proxima Karlo. As a result, you and the other knights watched as Calibri forced his way into the Void to join his first master.

 

None of you talked about Proxima Karlo and Calibri ever since.

 

…

 

There was only one thing keeping you sane in this world:

 

**_Proxima Nova._ **

 

Proxima Nova was **_everything_ ** you imagined a great monster to be, and more. They were always smiling, always laughing, a happy monster with a SOUL that cared about their friends and family. 5,000 years since your creation and you were still a loyal knight in servitude of Proxima Nova. They were at least 8,200 years at the time, three thousand years older. They often brought you on their voyages to the Dreemurr Kingdom, a kingdom ruled by an old goat monster named Troterus Dreemurr. There you and Nova watched as his only son, Ragarus Dreemurr, took over the mantle of King to rule over monsters across the sea. You noticed how proud Nova was when they saw that Ragarus was doing rather nicely with his kingdom, and in return you introduced Ragarus to _Countess Blisara of the Dipion Household_. The daughter of a wealthy monster family in the Proxima Empire, and apart of Proxima Nova’s small court of acquaintances.

And you were there to witness it all as Proxima Nova’s personal knight. A title you thought that anyone should be honored to have. Proxima Nova was amazing and you loved everything they did. You loved their laugh, their smile, even the little bursts of excitement that they had whenever something interesting happened.

They loved you, and you loved them.

 

...

 

Those memories became dreams to you when the war came about 5,000 years later. At first the Proxima Empire was winning against the Human Rebels, you had believed that Proxima Lato succeeded once more in his quest to bring peace between monsters and humans… That is, until the **_mages_ ** came. You were appointed as the Commander of the Royal Skeleton Guard while Proxima Kreon, the previous commander of the Royal Skeleton Guard, joined his siblings in the forefront.

You were by Nova’s side when it happened. Both of you watched as the royal knights were dusted first, one by one - _Verdana, Fira, Volkhov, Helvetica, Libre, Lora, Roboto, Georgia_ \- all of them: **_dust_**. You were SOULmates with Proxima Nova, so you couldn’t help but freeze when you felt their anxiety settle into your own SOUL when the mages got closer and closer to the other Proximas. You felt Nova’s _fear_ , something that you’ve never seen them experience, and eventually felt the pain of losing a loved one.

There was no glory in their deaths, no final words, no last goodbyes.

Just **_dust_**.

And Nova’s pain was something that you’ve never wanted to feel again, nor did you want to see the look of complete terror, fear, and anguish when they were all murdered. To compare your own feelings, it was as if you watched Nova turn to dust. Except that image was replayed over and over and **_over_**. Their pained screams filled the battlefield and you watched as the once happy and cheerful monster become cold and cruel.

Not a single human was spared from the battlefield.

And that was enough to **terrify** the human generals, who didn’t blink an eye when they saw _Proxima Lato’s_ magic.

You and W.D. Gaster, a physically disabled soldier caste skeleton who grew to become your friend, were Proxima Nova’s last beacon of HOPE. King Ragarus and _Queen_ Blisara were also there to support your Proxima, even if that meant that they were going to hand their citizens over to the Dreemurrs. It was as if they were a completely different smile, you could feel their grief and suffering every day and night, they felt utterly hopeless and you couldn’t help but feel the same: what use were you if you couldn’t help your SOULmate? And that answer was found in your SOUL: stay patient, and that was what you did. Slowly you and Nova adjusted to life in the Dreemurr Kingdom, the Royal Skeleton Guard still loyal to Proxima Nova - even if the Proxima Empire was no more - it was strange to witness similar loyalty in monsters that didn’t question the actions of their ruler. Only you were so much _more_ loyal than them.

Despite the fact that things seemed to go smoothly, you couldn’t help but notice how Nova started to hate humans more and more everyday. They may have pushed back their grief and pain, but you could feel that something else was taking its place:

 

**_Rage._ **

 

...

 

Asgore Dreemurr was probably the one monster that you were in complete dept of. He offered a place in his kingdom for you, Nova, Gaster, and the Royal Skeleton Guard - to call home. He made Nova into his Judge and you felt relieved and happy that Nova was enjoying their new occupation, telling you that they felt like they had a permanent place in Asgore’s kingdom. You were given the opportunity to train monsters who wanted to be apart of the Royal Guard (not be be confused with the Proxima Empire’s Royal _Skeleton_ Guard), given your experience and expertise you agreed. You also found a place in Asgore’s peaceful kingdom over the few hundred years that came by.

All of your problems, however, slowly returned when Nova told you that they had visions of the timeline: of the the future. From their tone and from their SOUL directly telling you, something bad was going to happen. After that day they held you a bit tighter in their sleep, spent more time with you, even if it distracted them from their job. You couldn’t ask them about the future, it simply was something that all skeleton monsters knew from experience: only royal skeleton monsters were allowed to keep this information to themselves. If everyone knew what was in store for them, then the future would certainly not be this peaceful.

Then again, what peace was left when **_The War_ ** began?

Those ten years of pain and suffering meant nothing to the monsters. No SOULs were taken from humans, even if Nova and their Guard were formidable at eliminating the humans, their (including your) Void magic corrupted the human SOULs, they were useless. More and more monsters perished every day, and after Nova murdered five human commanders and two human generals at the beginning of **_1906_** , mages finally entered the picture once more. They were the human’s beacon of hope, and the turning point for The War. Monsters finally realized that there was no hope left if mages appeared. Mages were strong, and human magic was unknown to all monsters - even to Nova, who was taught _everything_ about humans.

So when a Yellow Mage with a glowing scythe attacked you with all of their magic, you could only think of one thing, or rather: person. Your SOUL quaked from the pain, quivering and beginning to shatter. You were turning to dust, but you didn’t care about that. You only cared about Nova. Most monsters would turn to dust with their partner if said partner perished, monsters couldn’t handle that kind of heartache. But royal skeletons were something else, just like boss monsters. Nova would survive your death, even if they lost all of the HOPE in their body, Void magic was truly something else.

Why did Nova stay behind to be with you?

Didn’t Nova realize that King Asgore and Queen Toriel needed their oldest friend?

Why did they do this?

Why?

The answer was there when you saw their tear-streaked face.

They did this because they loved you.

 

And you lo

 

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Cut-off at the end was intentional. >:^)  
> Also, I think I cried writing this. This was also my longest chapter yet at 3,050 words!
> 
> \---
> 
> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	16. RESET [ PART TWO ]

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> You look for the mages, but something isn't right.  
> You heard their voices and stopped. You /know/ those voices...
> 
> What's going on?

_A dream plagued you after you had the vision, a memory of the past. You were back on the battlefield during the Human-Skeleton War, a sight too familiar for you in your dreams. You didn’t even_ **_see_ ** _them yet you broke down, crying and sobbing, hugging yourself as you fell to the ground. Explosions, the clanking of weapons against magic attacks, they only became louder and louder._

 _“Stop! Stop, stop, stopstop_ **_STOP!_** _” You screamed into your hands._

 _You didn’t want to see this, you wanted to just forget. Forget everything: forget Frisk, forget the President, forget the Barrier, forget the feeling of dust between your fingers. Suddenly you spotted dark grey boots in front of you, a light cyan cape dragging against the ground. You shook your head and muttered gibberish, refusing to look up at_ **_him_** _. Soon enough more feet stood around you, your sobs got louder. Your hand quivered and you looked up._

 **_“WHY?!”_ ** _You screamed at your siblings who looked at your with sympathetic eyes, “Why didn’t you tell me?! Why didn’t you tell me that you were all going to_ **_DIE?!_ ** _WHY?! Why?”_

_You looked down, defeated, not caring if the tears escaped from your nose and mouth. Liquid poured out of your sockets and mouth, uncontrolled, your magic unfocused. Proxima Lato kneeled down, grabbing your shoulder with one hand and using the other to lift your jaw up. You stared at his dead eyes, not sure if if was due to his state of being or his lack of having a SOUL. Your vision was blurred from the tears and you swore you saw him shed a few tears of his own._

_“Because, Nova.” Hearing him say your name only made you sob harder. “We didn’t want you to take our place.”_

 

_“You are the future of this timeline…”_

 

…

 

You woke up with a scream bubbling in your voice, the sheets were stained with black tears, and you slammed a hand against your mouth, not wanting to alert the others. They knew about your past already, but they **_didn’t_ ** need to know about the dreams you had. Especially Asgore, you didn’t need to burden him anymore with your presence. Instead you teleported to the Underground, to Waterfall. Glad that the Underground was empty you removed your hand from your mouth and **_screamed_**. It sounded raw and hoarse, the sound echoing louder than the waterfalls and rushing water. You rose your fists and slammed them against the black grass, more tears escaping your eyes.

The echo flowers refused to make a sound.

Subconsciously negative thoughts emerged from the darkest parts of your mind and you thought about every possible scenario that could happen before their deaths. **They** cared about you, and as a result they were dust because of you. Maybe if you had turned to dust instead of them, maybe things would be better. They would win the war, the Proxima Empire would still be here, monsters wouldn’t be Underground. You suddenly wished that you took their places.

But what about Asgore? What about Roman? What about being The Judge?

You wouldn’t be there to watch Asgore grow old and prosper, and possibly _not_ meet Toriel and wed someone else. Roman, and oh stars Roman, what would happen to him if you turned to dust? He would’ve died too from the heartache.

Both options always ended with someone being hurt.

In your sobbing stupor you heard a rustling noise behind you and you gasped. Wiping your tears away to look where the sound came from. Against the dark cave and glowing water you spotted a tall form. As the form got closer you went defensive raising your arm to summon bones.

“Show yourself!” You demanded, your voice sounding hoarse and shaky.

To your surprise you didn’t expect the form to be that of _Papyrus_ . The lanky skeleton looked at you with a sad expression at seeing you, and you felt vulnerable. Did he hear your screams, your _cries?_ The bones dissipated and the normally happy skeleton, from your observations he was always happy, looked almost **nostalgic**. Papyrus walked over and sat next to you, patting your back.

“DO YOU WANT TO… TALK ABOUT IT?” His voice was oddly quiet, but you didn’t reply, only hugging your knees closer to your chest.

“What are you doing here, so early?” You asked, ignoring his first question.

“I COME HERE SOMETIMES TO THINK.” Papyrus replies honestly, “I THINK ABOUT MY CHILDHOOD AND LIFE BEFORE THE BARRIER WAS BROKEN. I MAY LOOK AND SOUND AS IF EVERYTHING IS OKAY, BUT I’M CONSTANTLY WORRYING ABOUT MY BROTHER. HE HIDES THINGS FROM ME, AND ESPECIALLY REFUSES TO TALK ABOUT OUR **_FATHER_**.”

 

_He knows about Gaster._

 

“You know about Gaster?” You asked, shocked. “I thought Sans and I were the only ones…”

“NO.” Papyrus shook his skull. “I MAY HAVE BEEN A CHILD WHEN IT HAPPENED, BUT I CAN NEVER FORGET HIS FACE. MY MEMORIES OF HIM ARE… _BLURRY_ , BUT I WOULD ALWAYS REMEMBER HIS VOICE. HE…”

Papyrus seemed lost in thought before he sighed, “HE TOLD US TALES ABOUT A ROYAL SKELETON GUARD AND THE EMPIRE HE USED TO BE APART OF. BEING A CHILD I THOUGHT HE WAS TALKING ABOUT KING ASGORE’S KINGDOM BUT… IT MAKES SENSE NOW. HE WAS TALKING ABOUT _YOUR_ EMPIRE. HE DISAPPEARED BEFORE HE COULD TELL US MORE. HE WAS BUSY MAKING A MACHINE.”

“Hmm.” You looked at Papyrus, “So you remember Gaster… Can you tell me a bit about your magic?”

“YES, OF COURSE!” He seemed in a better mood at this, standing up proudly. “I HAVE _BLUE MAGIC_ AS WELL AS _ORANGE MAGIC!_ ”

“Really?” You asked, intrigued. “Have you ever used it on anyone?”

“ONLY ON SANS, WHEN I WAS PRACTICING.” Papyrus looked a bit sheepish, “I WAS WORRIED FOR THE WHOLE DAY: HE WOULDN’T STOP MOVING, ONLY WHEN I STOPPED USED ORANGE MAGIC ON HIM!”

“That does sound amusing.” You chuckled, imagining the short skeleton moving on and about, his SOUL unable to stop due to the orange magic. You turned to look at Papyrus again. “Anything else?”

“I CAN SUMMON BONES.” He lifted his hand to summon a few bones from the ground, “AND I CAN USE MY BLUE MAGIC TO LEVITATE.” To prove his words you saw Papyrus’s white SOUL glow with a blue outline, and the skeleton did a _backflip_ in the air.

“AND… THAT’S PRETTY MUCH IT.”

“You can’t teleport or summon undertakers?” You asked, Papyrus shook his head.

You looked back at the cyan water and sighed. Papyrus took this as his cue to sit down next to you watching the water for you. You were still feeling sour and negative, but glad that he was able to answer your questions. Somehow you found anger in the fact that Gaster was foolish to try and contact you, creating Sans and Papyrus, leaving them behind after he fell into the Void: a mess for you to clean up. Not to mention the fact that you were going to ‘hang out’ with the President today—

“Oh stars!” You exclaimed and abruptly stood up, Papyrus looked alarmed at your outburst.

“I must return back to D.C.! I have important things to do today!” You explained.

“GO!” Papyrus nodded, “DON’T WORRY, FRIEND! I WON’T TELL ANYONE ABOUT OUR ENCOUNTER. THOUGH, MAY I TELL SANS ABOUT US MEETING?”

“Of course.” You nodded, “I will trust your word.”

"ANYTHING FOR A FRIEND OF THE GREAT PAPYRUS, NYEHEHEHE!"

You teleported back to your hotel room, removing the pillow and bed sheets that were still damp. You looked at the clock, it was 3:23 a.m. You still had time to rest. You closed your eye sockets and fell asleep with the blinds open, the image of the stars calming your tired SOUL.

 

…

 

“Are you okay, Nova? Is something troubling you?”

Asgore’s voice brought you back to reality, looking at him with nervous eyes. You nodded and giving him a smile, watching as the President was answering a few questions from reporters. The vision still had you shaken up, not to mention the fact that your dream made you in a bad mood the entire morning. You needed to stay calm, pretend everything was fine. Even if you and Asgore were dust, and the President assassinated there was still HOPE: **Frisk**. You knew their SOUL well enough that they did care about their monster friends in this timeline, and they would most likely _reset_ to restore everything back to before the assassinations.

The child was watching you with curious eyes, you sent them an emotionless look which made them hold Asgore’s hand tighter. The monster king nodded at your words but was still unconvinced. You walked over to the President and smiled, looking through the glass and to the sky. The room was open with long tables circling around, a single table was in the center. To the back of the lone table was a large glass window that gave view of the bottom of the building.

“The reporters get shy around me.” You said to President Miller who jumped at your voice.

“Don’t worry, they’ll come around!” President Miller chuckled, “You okay? You seem a little off.”

“Just didn’t sleep well.” You shrugged, “How are you?”

“Heh just… Excited.” He gave you a once over, “I mean, look at you all! You’re everything I read and dreamed about as a kid! All of those sci-fi and fantasy books are technically based on _real_ beings! I know I’m not… On the favored side of my country due to me supporting monsters, but I believe that you being here will a **good** thing! There’s so many possibilities that could come true, and I believe that you being here will ensure a good future between humans and monsters!”

“Enthusiastic.” You smiled, “I like it.”

You turned around to look at Asgore before turning around again, only to see that President Miller’s face had paled considerably. His eyes were trained on your chest plate, which made you narrow your eyes in confusion before you spotted the red dot trained right in the middle of your chestplate. You couldn’t even register a second when the president yelled out **_‘SHOOTER!’_ ** when he pushed you off to the side. Even the people in the room barely had time to react when you watched a large _magic bullet_ go through the President’s very head, blood spraying on your skull. When his body fell on the floor the mages finally entered the room, barging in and using their magic attacks on both humans and your monster allies.

You turned to Frisk who seemed horrified at the sight, you yelled at them.

**_“FRISK!”_ **

That was your second reset.

 

...

 

The first thing you did when you woke up, was to turn into your human form. You left the hotel, making sure to avoid Miss Lyubova and the others, and explored Washington D.C. You needed to find those human mages and question them immediately. As far as you were concerned, there _shouldn’t_ be any mages left. The era of mages died off each time a human child, each a descendant of a mage - except for one child with a yellow SOUL who only fell down due to bad luck - fell into the Underground. Humans were well aware that mages had existed, but no one upright confessed that they were one.

Whoever these mages were, they were obviously planning their attack for a long time.

You walked past people, some who felt as if they’d seen you on television but shrugged it off, your form was normal: average. Just another face in a crowd of people. You eyed and analyzed every SOUL, looking for that surge of magic that mages gave off. Like Frisk, you had suspected they were a mage since the beginning, you looked for that bright glow of DETERMINATION in their SOULs: mages had more DT than average.

Then you had an idea.

Maybe they were already at the meeting hall, waiting for you and the others to arrive with the President. Confident you teleported into the building, hiding in a closet before someone could notice you. After a few minutes you exited the closet before stopping. Your human features turning into a tight scowl. You could practically feel the magic coming off in _waves_. You walked down the hallway and stopped when you heard loud voices behind the door. Lightly pressing your head against the door you listening, making sure to look out for anyone who came nearby.

 

 **_“I don’t know man, I don’t know if I want to do this.”_ ** Male, a young adult(?), sounds familiar.

 

 **_“What!?”_ ** A gruff male voice exclaimed, **_“We’ve planned everything out! No backing out now! Or else…”_ **

 

You could feel a magic attack preparing to fire, possibly the gruff-voiced man threatening the younger man.

 

He sounds familiar too.

 

**_“Woah, woah, guys! We need to get a hold of ourselves!”_ **

 

Female, she also sounds **_familiar_**.

 

 **_“R-Right!”_ ** The young male agreed, **_“Darryl, you ready to head out to set up your sniper?”_ **

 

_Darryl…?_

 

 **_“Yeah,”_ ** A new voice spoke, **_“Susie, Sam, Mick you ready when I blow [______]’s bones to pieces?”_ **

 

No...

 

It can’t be.

 

You heard hums of agreement at the question.

 

**_“Psshht, don’t you mean Nova? That’s what they go by.”_ **

 

 **_“No one cares_ ** **Jessica** ** _. You’re just here as backup.”_ **

 

Nonononono _NONO_ ** _NONONONO._ **

 

Not wanting to ask questions you barged through the door, your spell fading away to reveal your towering form. The humans, the humans you once knew as **_friends_** , were there - planning the deaths of the President, you, and Asgore. Mick, Susie, Sam, Darryl, and **_Jessica:_ ** all of them were in shock at your sudden entrance. But Darryl and Mick didn’t waste any time, preparing their magic bullets. Your eye sockets went dark and the humans made their mistake, you lifted your hand - using _black magic_ on them - and flung your arm to the floor. Their shouts were unheard when they fell into the ground with you, going through the Void to your home.

Dazed and confused at the sudden change in atmosphere, they fainted. Which left you looking at five humans, not friends, just **_humans_**. Carrying them into the basement of your home, where you kept the body of the **_Red Mage_** , you placed them in individual cells (you had originally planned to use this basement for the other mages, but lost the motivation to even follow them around). Quickly running upstairs you looked for spells that would prevent their magic from being used. They won’t be able to escape then, because they wouldn’t know _how_ to escape. Finally you found it, it involved purple and black magic: the _purple magic_ trapping them in, and your _black magic_ making their SOULs unable to use their magic. You weren’t sure if your black magic was going to have any side effects, since teleporting seemed to make them go _unconscious_ , but didn’t bother thinking any longer on it.

By the time you finished the spell, you disposed of the plans in the room where the humans were plotting, changed your grey armor to the white one,, and got back to the hotel in record time.

“Hello, Miss Lyubova.” You smiled at your assistant who smiled.

“Oh! You’re talking to me-Of course you are-I mean! Hi!” You turned to Asgore and nodded.

“Shall we go meet the President?” You asked, Asgore gave you a smile.

“We shall.” He turned to Undyne, Frisk, and Alphys and nodded, you all took the same vehicle to the meeting room.

After having a successful meeting with the President, who confirmed that you received your citizenship, you found yourself standing next to Frisk once the reporters seemed more interesting in asking the President about you. The child looked up at you, nervous again. You gave them a calm smile, making them relax.

“It’s okay, Frisk.” You continued, “Thank you for doing that.”

“Is everything fine now?” They looked up at you.

“Just… Understand that I won’t be so easy on you next time if you pull a stunt like that.” They nodded.

“Good. But, yes, Frisk. Everything is fine now.” You smiled, “I did it.”

 

_You changed the future._

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	17. He Is Watching

 

A skeleton monster watches the exchange with curious eyes.

 

They, **Proxima Nova** , decided to change the future.

 

Their decision would cause a endless stream of possibilities, all because they decided to be a **hero**.

 

Heroes will always die. It happened with the Proxima family, it happened during The War.

 

Eventually it would most likely happen to Proxima Nova as well.

 

The monster chuckled and returned back to his place in the Void, openings showing him different timelines. Some showed different universes.

 

_"It's time to take matters into my own hands."_

 

His voice was calm and smooth, raising a hand at one of the openings, watching how one timeline played out, then the next, and the _next_.

 

The monster let out a screechy laugh, full of malicious intent.

 

 

 

 

_"Are you ready, **your highness**?"_

 

 

 


	18. Black Tears and Familiar Faces

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> The machine is ready, it's time for you to free Gaster.

**_SEPTEMBER 4TH, 2174_ **

Four months of you, Sans, and Alphys (yes, over the next few months you decided to tell them the truth about Gaster even though they didn’t understand) working and building the machine, passed. You really didn’t understand the science behind it, but all you knew was that it needed your magic in order to open a rift. It couldn’t just be any of your portals, this one was different, you needed the conditions to be the same: you needed to replicate the event. The signal would open a portal to a place in the Void where Gaster would be.

There were other things that needed your attention, like the humans in your basement. Thankfully the memory spell worked on them, but you couldn’t just let them free - they still had their magic, though they were unable to use it due to the trap spell you put on the basement. You fed them and gave them the necessities they needed to survive, oddly enough you felt no remorse in doing this. They deserved this, they deserved being imprisoned. They were probably going to be anyway after what they were going to do if you didn’t stop them. The strange thing that struck you the most was that these were the only existing mages in the whole planet.

And they happened to be your former friends.

Something about this didn’t seem right, but your priorities were on saving Gaster.

 

...

 

Meanwhile, Frisk was in their room, talking to thin air. They argued with the being known as Chara, the first fallen human and the one who ‘borrowed’ Frisk’s SOUL. However, instead of completely taking over the child, Chara suspected that your existence (or the existence of the Proxima Empire) somehow changed _something_ about this timeline. Sure Frisk was completely in control and Chara was still in their ghostly form, but since their SOUL was one in the same: the two children had to stick together no matter what.

“Don’t tell them about me!” Chara yelled, their voice only heard by Frisk. “They don’t need to know about me!”

“But they can help you!” Frisk argued back, “Don’t you want to be free!?”

“Kid, I could care less about being free,” Chara crossed their arms, “I don’t think they would enjoy knowing that a great-something grandchild of the Red Mage was alive, **_and_ ** living in the SOUL of the same person who can RESET.”

“They’re okay now!” Frisk said, “They’re over that! I just know it! And if they’re not, I’ll talk it out with them!”

“Talk it out!?” Chara let out a laugh levitating over the bed, “That monster is **_not_ ** like the friends you know, Frisk. They’re a bit like me, cold, harsh, having a deep hatred for humans, etcetera… The point I’m trying to make is: Proxima Nova is not someone who will accept you just because of a few friendly exchanges.”

“I’m sure that they’ll come around… Eventually.” Frisk gave Chara a reassuring smile, “Don’t worry, I’m just going downstairs.”

“Fine!” Chara sat on the bed, crossing their arms.

Frisk hopped down the stairs to see all of their friends cheering over a game, all except one who wasn’t present: Proxima Nova. It wasn’t common for the monster to wander away from the others during social gatherings, heck, they rarely accepted invites from the President or Asgore. Frisk had assumed that it was just them not fitting in, but they realized - after the second reset - that Nova was experiencing much more than that. They rarely talked about their family, about their friends, about their SOULmate - who they rarely mentioned - they rarely talked about their past. They always seemed lost in thought, as if they were experiencing the very memory that they were talking about. In the more recent months they stopped staying at Toriel and Asgore’s home, and instead Frisk noticed that Nova would teleport somewhere else to sleep if they ever invited them over to their home.

That wasn’t the only thing strange about Nova, in fact, what struck Frisk the most was the monster’s anger and hate: mainly directed towards humans. Monsters were said to be made of hope, compassion, and love - but Nova proved otherwise. Maybe they didn’t love anymore, maybe they lost the hope long ago. But whatever the reason: Frisk believed in Nova. They believed that Nova would get their happy ending, and that happy ending might start with reuniting with their old friend _Gaster_.

The child had met a few of Gaster’s followers, they grey and lifeless shells of Gaster’s assistants, wandering the Underground with broken minds. The fact that Frisk encountered them at all surprised them, but they gave clues about Gaster. One day when Frisk was dreaming, they dreamed about the glitchy and deep voice of Gaster - images of machines and cracked skulls wedged into their mind after waking up. They had seen him one time, was he finding his own way out of the Void - or was it just the Void playing tricks on Frisk?

Either way, Gaster will be free.

 

…

 

“Sans, how is the machine?” You asked, looking down at the stocky skeleton.

“it’s... surprisingly intact.” Sans motioned to the machine that was quietly spouting out numbers on the screen, “it should be ready in a few days.”

You stepped towards a window (which prevented anyone from looking inside, much like the ones those would use in interrogation rooms), looking down at the bustling vehicles. Your SOUL was tired and nervous, you hadn’t seen Gaster in forever, not since The War. What if his mind was broken by the Void? What if something bad happened to him? What if the Void made him cease to exist? You could never live a life knowing that someone else close to you would die because of your decisions. You felt your bones rattle quickly, placing your hand on the window and closed your eye-sockets, gently leaning your skull against the glass.

 

Don’t cry.

_Don’t cry._

**_Don’t cry._ **

 

Crying was something you had started to do more often, it was tiring after a long day of doing it, but it was better than… Your violent outbursts towards humans long ago. Up until the late 60’s you didn’t hesitate to scorn or harm any human that questioned or threatened you, before the Barrier broke you became emotionless - your _nihilistic thoughts_ setting in once more. Crying was better but it never made you feel any better about the endless onslaught of memories that came every night, or even during the day just by mentioning _them_. That was the difference between you and other monsters. They didn’t know of your pain, they don’t know what it’s like to experience what you’ve experienced, they don’t understand why you refuse to make attachments towards others. They will never understand.

And you want it to stop, you truly do. But everytime you feel as if everything is okay, you suddenly remember the bad things: you remember how much your actions have impacted others. It’s your fault.

**_It’s always your fault, isn’t it?_ **

Your hand clenched and your ribcage shook for a moment, the feeling of wanting to punch the glass - or anything in general - returned. Why were you so _sad?_ You had your friends back, monsters were free, you changed the timeline to save the future. These feelings shouldn’t affect you, they had _no reason_ to do so. But you felt this way anyway, and you hated it. You hated the memories, you hated the mages, you hated Frisk, you hated their stupid little smile: how can they smile knowing what they’ve done?

You could barely look at yourself in the mirror knowing that you were essentially holding the humans, your friends, in your _basement_ underneath your perfect mansion. You wish you could go back to the Royal Palace and hide in your room and cry and cry, and **_cry_**. Unfortunately the humans took that away from you too, nothing was left of the Royal Palace of Karlo. Those damned humans.

You **_hated_ ** them with all of your fiber.

You wished you could make them feel how **_you_ ** felt.

You wished—

Your train of thought was broken when you felt a hand grab your wrist, you opened your eye-sockets and turned around, opening your mouth to yell at whomever was bothering your lamentation. Who were they to touch you like you were their friend? Who were they to just waltz in and approach you without asking?

...It was just Sans.

He looked a little unnerved at the lack of eye-lights and you let out a sigh, using your magic to create tiny pinpricks of light. You shook your hand away from his grasp and shook your head. Sans seemed a little lost for a moment, feeling smaller than he really was at your gaze, he took a step back at your hostile appearance.

“wanna talk ‘bout it?” He asked, your only reply was to turn around and look around the window.

You could feel him grab a chair from behind, hearing him sit on it. Your bonebrows narrowed, crossing your arms and made yourself look bigger by fixing your posture. You really didn’t want to talk to him, to _anyone_ really. You didn’t need to burden him or anyone with your emotional baggage, no one needs to know about your story.

“Waiting won’t help.” You muttered and uncrossed your arms, “You won’t get anything out of me.”

“ _tibia_ honest i was expecting that kind’ve reply.” Sans said, hoping to get a reaction out of you.

Black tears free-flowed out of your eye-sockets, entering your nasal bone and mouth, a few dripped down your jawbone and onto the front of your cape. Some dropped on the clean white floor, some stuck to your armor. Silent cries escaped from you, trying to focus on the cars, but could only focus on your previous thoughts that leeched onto you like a virus. You needed to go home, fast. You suspected that you would have a complete attack within the next few seconds. Before you teleported back home, you said to Sans:

“Just tell me when the machine is done, okay Sans? Can you do that?”

You teleported to your home, leaving a disgruntled and confused monster in the Lab. Your home no longer felt like a home but a prison, but when wasn’t it? You had humans in caged rooms, unaware of who they were - they only knew that they were caged, that they had each other (though they no longer knew each other), and they had you to take care of them. Putting them in comas would be much easier, but costly to take care of them. You could barely take care of yourself, how had you been able to take care of _five_ humans, you didn’t know. You shook your skull, bitterly storming out of your mansion and out the backyard that was filled with a variety of trees - most were from the Proxima Empire. Beautiful shades of blue, purple, and magenta filled the grey-colored trees. Amongst the trees were Earthen trees that relied on water and sunlight, the trees from your empire solely relied on your magic to be alive.

When you found **_the tree_** , the one with golden leaves, you slammed your fists against the bark, letting out a large scream. You slid down on your knees, punching the tree that refused to bruise. Now the tears were flowing freely. This was what - the second, third? - time you cried this week, adding onto your 24 other episodes the months prior of this year.

Your punches echoed throughout the empty forest and you looked past the tree, a rusted yellow scythe not too far away from you, and in all of it’s glory Mt. Ebott towered

 **_“IT’S NOT FAIR!”_ ** You yelled at the tree, **_“WHY ME!? WHY NOT SOMEONE ELSE!?”_ **

You placed a gloved hand over your mouth, whimpers and wails escaping every few seconds.

“Sometimes I… I wonder if you guys can h-h-h… Hear me…” You muttered, finding a seat against the tree, looking at your mansion, “Some ruler I-I turned out to b… To be. I’ve done… Nothing r-right, I’ve murdered humans - I **_kidnapped_ ** them! Ho-How can _I_ be… **_good?_ ** ”

Only the wind replied with a howl, the rustling of leaves falling making you look up at the sky, at the stars that only appeared during the night. You used to believe that when monsters turned to dust, they would become stars that watched over the planet. A childish thought that you quickly got rid of once you realized that it was just a way for you to cope with the loss of your loved ones. There was only one simple truth that you could make out…

And that was the fact that they were never coming back.

“Everyone will be gone in a few thousand years…” You sighed, “Asgore and Toriel might face a fate like yours… And I don’t expect those two skeleton brothers to live long, they’re not normal… Frisk will be gone before any of us knows it…”

 

_It’s always me that is left behind._

 

“I’ve tried to move on…” You looked down, “I know you guys aren’t coming back but… Why am I still hurting? Thousands of years of grief and sadness have turned me into someone I hardly recognize.”

“Maybe the kid will help me sooner or later…”

_For now I can only dream._

 

…

 

The entire ensemble of friends were in the lab the day Sans and Alphys declared that the machine was ready. Since it was a personal project, kept away from the general public, only you guys were allowed privacy to witness how the machine worked. You turned to Sans, you were still embarrassed at your outburst at him, it made you jealous that he could so easily forgive you. Alphys was calibrating the subsystems so you bothered yourself with the skeleton once more.

“Are you ready?” You asked, Sans seemed nervous as well.

In the back corner you would feel Papyrus’s SOUL feel nervous and scared, unsure how to feel about his father figure (who was gone for most of his life) returning back to the world. Asgore, Toriel, and Undyne seemed indifferent since they still had no idea who you were looking for. Frisk sat down on a chair, having another internal battle with themselves.

“no, not really.” Sans rubbed his humerus, “it just feels weird y’know? i haven’t seen the guy in a hundred years and he’ll just show up like it’s nothin’? i’m more scared than nervous… what if he forgot about m—us?”

“Then we’ll make him remember.” You firmly declared, your magic ready to escape from your fingertips. “You told him to **_Never Forget,_ ** right?”

Alphys walked up to you two.

“O-Okay!” She looked determined, her ends of her snout curling up in a smile, “The machine i-is ready!”

You and Sans nodded, walking towards the center of the room. The others followed and you both turned around. The machine was behind of you, thrumming with energy and magic, waiting to be used. You spoke first, using your hands to emphasize your words.

“Okay, first things first, everyone needs to be safe.” You motioned to Sans, “If anything happens, Sans will use his blue magic to prevent you all from being sucked into any portal that may appear.”

“Papyrus?” Said skeleton looked delighted upon hearing his name, “Yes, Papyrus will also assist in retrieving anyone that happened to slip out of Sans’s blue magic. Everyone else, be prepared. Frisk, behind Asgore.”

“yeah... like the monster said, be prepared. who knows what will come outta that portal…” Sans shrugged and nodded to Alphys, who flipped the switch on, the machine becoming louder.

You took a few steps forward and grabbed two large wires that connected to the machine, your hands surrounded in Void magic, the ground shook and the skeletons used their blue magic on everyone. Meanwhile you stood planted to the ground, gripping the wires tighter until the magic buildup became too intense. You poured all of your magic, a low groan escaping from your mouth as every ounce of magic was released onto the machine. The invention beeped loudly, the screen turning red until you created a large portal underneath the machine. As the machine disappeared into the inky black abyss you could feel a something: a presence. It was something!

Or rather: _someone_.

You released the wires and watched as the portal tried to suck everything in its path, luckily you had faith in the skeleton brother’s ability to hold onto their magic, and everyone stayed put. You crouched and reached your arm out, unaffected by the Void’s magic, you leaned down until your left shoulder was submerged in the Void. The call of the Void became louder and you could feel the blue magic slipping. You turned your skull and yelled at the two skeletons.

“Just hold on!” You continued, “I’m almost… There! **Just hold on!** ”

You felt a hand wrap around your own, intertwining your fingers together, using your right hand you grabbed onto your elbow, pulling yourself up and out of the portal. The Void, refusing to let go of its prisoner, made it difficult for you to pull out the monster on the other side. Letting out a roar you used all of your magic and strength to pull them out. You saw a gloved hand when you pulled out far enough, dark armor that made you nervous (oh stars, you weren’t pulling out **_Proxima Karlo_ ** did you?!) and wanting to let go. Alongside that **_another_ ** pair of hands, this one ungloved and with holes in them grabbed your right arm. Determined to get them both out you jumped and pulled them out, the portal closed in on itself surprisingly, filling the room in darkness.

A few seconds following the room returned to normal and all of you were on the Lab floor. With your magic depleted for the moment, you stayed on the ground, too tired to get up. You watched Asgore get up first, you heard him gasp loudly. Soon enough you could hear Toriel’s voice echo throughout the room, gaining everyone’s attention: including your attention.

 

“Gaster… Gaster! Asgore look it’s Gaster and—.” She paused.

 

“Oh my stars, Asgore! It’s, it’s **_Roman!_ ** Nova! Wake up! Look, it’s **_Roman!_ ** ”

 

It took you a whole minute for you to register her words.

  


 

You looked up...

  
  
  
  


And a pair of golden eyes stared back.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> HALFWAY TO 900 HITS???? I'VE BEEN BLESSED SNJDFGJNFDG  
> THANK YOU EVERYONE WHO HAS GIVEN KUDOS AND LOVE SO FAR!
> 
> \--------------
> 
> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	19. And Suddenly, You Were Alive

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Your SOUL felt happy, relaxed...
> 
> Alive.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> GDFJNGNJF 8 DAYS WITHOUT UPDATING AAA  
> it might not seem like a long time (it's literally been a week) but to me it feels like a long time! since i've been trying to write 3 paragraphs at a time, chapter 20 may or may not be coming tonight. i hope you enjoy this chapter <3
> 
> also!! thank you all for 970+ hits, i'm so happy with all of the support and love this fic has been getting.  
> shoutout to Duckiedragon who i appreciate with all my heart for showing their love for this fic. <3

You stared at Roman, still unable to register the sight. It was Roman, _your_ Roman! You slowly rose to your feet, towering over the monster who also seemed a little shocked. Everything about him looked exactly how it did when you last saw him: the same scars, the light soot on his armor, the yellow cape that was burned at the edges! It was him! It was him… Roman.

“My Roman.” You pulled him into a hug, tears flowing out of your eye-sockets once more.

You felt him return the hug happily, and within seconds you were on the Lab floor, grabbing onto each other for dear life: hugging each other tighter than the two of you had done before. Your vision clouded with tears, your SOUL fluttered happily, wanting to come out. Roman’s SOUL was the same before he turned to dust… _Wait._ You untangled your grip on the knight, wiping your tears to look at him dead in the eye. A few thoughts ran through your mind at the moment.

 

_How are you alive?_

 

_I watched you turn to dust._

 

 _I watched your SOUL_ **_shatter_** _!_

 

_Why were you in the Void?_

 

_…_

 

_Are you even real?_

 

You stared harder, looking into his SOUL. You saw the familiar black SOUL that was surrounded in a soft cyan glow, reflecting his patience. You glanced over it once, a little disturbed by the small white cracks in his SOUL, turning away and stopped. You saw **_the bond._ ** Your bond with Roman, that thin yellow string that wrapped around his SOUL, stretching out into your own SOUL where the string turned from yellow to cyan. You relaxed, leaning back and easing your gaze. You saw him for who really was, trying to find any deceit in his SOUL.

And all you saw was _him_.

You felt a bony hand grab your cape and you turned around, and saw Gaster. Or what was left of him anyway. The monster’s body was an inky black, the only resemblance of clothing being a bleached turtleneck (you recalled it being a dark grey before) and black shiny shoes. He had two cracks that ran throughout his skull: one on his left eye and connected to his mouth, and the other being on his right eye and traveling up his frontal lobe. Another thing about him struck you as confused and shocked:

He didn’t have any hands.

As you looked down his arm, you noticed the faint outline of his ulna, radius, and his carpals - but it stopped there. No fingers, nothing. You pulled him into a tight embrace. To your surprise you felt a pair of hands touch your back, perplexed you looked at Gaster.

 **_“Sorry!”_ ** He spoke in Wingdings, pulling back and raised his arms, showing you a pair of hands that _levitated_ , **_“It’s strange, but my hands were separated due to the accident, now I can summon them whenever I please.”_ **

To add onto his explanation he summoned two more hands, all of them had holes in the center of the palm.

“Are you okay?” You asked, taking one of his hands into your own.

 **_“I am fine.”_ ** He gave you a reassuring smile, your gaze softened at his expression.

“Gaster…” You heard Asgore saw in awe.

Feeling Gaster’s hand dissipate, the two of you turned around, watching as the king and queen of monsters pull Gaster in for a crushing hug. You’d never seen them so full of joy in their lives, at ease. Quietly you watched as Sans and Papyrus also made their way towards their father. Sans looked guilty but **_happy_** , however, Papyrus looked in turmoil - having not known his father - he didn’t know how to react. You felt a hand on your shoulder and turned around, seeing Roman again though he looked confused.

Looking down you noticed that he was lightly scratching a spot on his armor, a repeated motion that made you wince. That was the same exact spot where the mage hit him. Placing both of your hands on his shoulders you sighed.

“Does it hurt?” Your voice was gentle, soft, and patient, something that mildly surprised you.

“I can still feel it.” Roman replied shakily, “I’m trying to push away the pain but…”

“You need rest.” You declared. “C’mon, let’s go home.”

  


**_“wait.”_ **

  


You were about to grab Roman and teleport away when you heard Sans’s voice. Turning around you noticed everyone was looking at you. Uncomfortable at the sight you looked at Sans’s sneakers, Undyne’s voice broke the silence.

“No offense but uh…” You looked up and you noticed how she gestured to Roman, “You’re just gonna leave us like _that?”_

“What are you talking about?” You frowned, “I just want to spend some time with my _SOULmate_ … Is that too much to ask?”

“yeah but… didn’t you say that he’d fallen down?” Sans’s words struck a chord in your SOUL.

“I know what I said!” You snapped, looking off to the side, “...And what I saw.”

You shook your head, grabbing Roman’s hand.

“But can’t you see!?” You exclaimed, “He’s _alive_ and well!”

“I’m just saying!” Undyne put her arms up in defense, “We should just ask him some questions and—”

“Wait.” You interrupted her, “Are you trying to say that this is an imposter!?”

“Calm down Nova.” Asgore walked towards you, “We just want to make sure that this is truly Roman.”

“It is!” You said, eye-lights growing wide, “Why don’t you believe me?”

“We do!” Toriel added in, “We truly do but _please_ —”

You frantically used your other hand to grab Roman’s shoulder, staring at the other monsters with confused eyes. You didn’t understand, you didn’t understand why they were so skeptical. There was _nothing_ wrong with Roman. You looked back into Roman’s eyes and saw worry in his own.

 

 _I don’t understand Roman._ You looked at your SOULmate.

 **_Just comply with their wishes, your highness._ ** Roman looked back at you, his patient eyes slowly cooled your temper.

 

You stared at Roman a few seconds longer before nodding, taking a deep breath.

“Goodbye, everyone.” You said calmly to everyone in the room. “Roman and I are going away for a while.”

“Wait!” Asgore reached out.

“I’ll give you all time to think about it.” You said before teleporting.

  


…

  


You collapsed into Roman’s arms as soon as your feet made contact with the grassy plains of the mountain, the ocean to your backs. Your tall frame towered over him, trying to prevent your horns from hitting his face. You gripped his cape so hard that if any of you moved quickly, you would’ve torn the fabric off without a second thought. You let out a frustrated yell. Roman simply rubbed circles into your back, staring at the cliff’s edge.

“I don’t know how to feel Roman.” You stared off into the distance, “I don’t… It’s been too long.”

“How many years?” He asked leaning his head against your chestplate, “How long was I gone?”

“268 years…”

You pulled away, sitting next to him.

“You’re taking this scenario rather calmly, your highness.” Roman said surprised.

“Like I said…” You pulled your knees to your chest, “It’s been too long. So much has happened in the past two years and I feel immune to the things that are happening. I don’t—… Hnn, nevermind.”

“What is it?” He placed a hand on your shoulder.

“Monsters have been here for what- one, two years? I was so scared to see _them_.” You narrowed your eyes, “Asgore and Toriel, I mean, it made my SOUL so happy when I saw them but…”

“But... what?”

“Now I don’t feel emotionally attached to them.” You took off one of your gloves to play with the grass, “If that makes sense… I don’t really connect with any of them. I feel out of place.”

You interrupted Roman before he could say anything more.

“And-And! Monsters are so different now! We’re relics of the _past_ , Roman.” You continued, “We’re _too_ different, and humans are troublesome as always.”

He grabbed both of your shoulders, leaning up so that his face was in front of yours.

“Then we’ll adjust and fit in!” Roman said, determined, “And we’ll do it together! I don’t know what you’ve been through after I fell down, but I do know this: we’re here for each other! If we get dragged behind, then we’ll do that together too!”

You stared at him wide-eyed, mouth agape. Slowly a smile made its way to your face and you took of your other glove. One hand touched his cheek, while the other laced its fingers with Roman’s. Your eyelights turned into hearts.

“My Roman.” You leaned your forehead into his own, “You’re so wonderful and amazing, you know that right?”

Roman let out a ‘mhm’ and used his other arm to wrap around your shoulder.

 

The two of you watched the ocean above the cliff’s edge.

 

…

 

Meanwhile, back at Toriel and Asgore’s home, Undyne and Gaster (of all people) were in a heated argument. Everyone looked at them with nervous eyes, hoping that the two wouldn’t enter a fight. Everyone had been through enough for today.

“What if he’s dangerous!?” Undyne repeated for the umpteenth time, “We need to take action!”

“Give them time!” Gaster replied, his hands making symbols as he spoke, “They deserve to live freely on their own!”

“Nnngggaaahhh!!” Undyne stomped over to a table, but yelled in frustration when she remembered that she was in Asgore’s home, she didn’t want to break any of his furniture. “ _Your_ majesty is delusional, Gaster! They’re lovesick!”

“I’m sure Nova has enough sense to question him themself.” Gaster continued, “You also forgot that they could see SOULs. I’m sure they saw Roman’s SOUL…”

“That doesn’t explain how this ‘Roman’ managed to be rescued!” Undyne looked at Alphys, “It shouldn’t be possible, right Alph?”

“I-It shouldn’t but…” Alphys looked at Gaster, “There must be _some_ rational explanation, right?”

“Being in the Void allows one to see different timelines and universes.” Gaster paused, “Though, I’m sure Empre— _Nova_ has already told you about this yes?”

There was a collective array of nods and agreements.

“But not only can be see them, we can also _enter_ them.” Gaster chuckled nervously, “I’ve been in a few myself, I’ve meet Frisk in Waterfall once and they’ve met my former assistants before, you remember them, yes?”

Frisk looked up upon hearing their name and nodded, remembering the grey and washed-out faces of _Gaster’s Followers_.

“Unfortunately I must admit that I’ve taken a few people out of their timelines, usually Frisk or Sans.” Sans looked flabbergasted, a thought coming to him, but looked off to the side, he’ll talk about it later.

“And Roman… Roman was one of the people I snatched. He was close to turning to dust, yes, but being from the Void his wounds were healed there. The two of us were stuck in the Void, watching and waiting.”

“wait. you said that you could enter other timelines and universes, right?” Sans asked, his eye-sockets narrowing, “why didn’tcha just come back here _willingly?_ you said that you had access and even could _take_ people from their timelines, why weren’t you able to get back?”

“An excellent question indeed Sans, I taught you well.” Gaster hummed.

  


“Because I’m not really your father. Nor is Roman truly Nova’s knight.”  


 

“WHAT?!” Everyone exclaimed, looking at the scientist for more answers.

“you better explain.” Sans said, his hand glowing a blue, “or else your face is gonna get more cracks in ‘em.”

“Sans, please.” Asgore smiled nervously, “Let’s just talk about this calmly, yes?”

“fine.” Sans lowered his hand, “but if i see anything funny, i’m gonna make sure you go back to the void and never come back.”

“Since there are multiple timelines, there are multiple me’s that have fallen into the Void. However, only one can exist there and so our SOULs and bodies were fused together to create me, and it’s **highly** plausible that another _me_ is forming in the Void right now.” Gaster explained, “I have memories from other Gasters, things that never happened in this world - like a Gaster from a universe where everyone sought to harm each other, and one where Nova actually turned to dust instead of Roman - but I also have memories from _your_ Gaster.”

“Fascinating!” Alphys exclaimed out of the blue.

“SO.” Papyrus finally spoke after keeping quiet the whole day, “YOU AREN’T TRULY MY— _OUR_ FATHER?”

“Yes and no.” Gaster shook his head, “Theoretically speaking I’m possibly the father of all Sans and Papyruses. If you need proof…”

Gaster suddenly revealed his SOUL, shocking everyone in the room - mostly due to customs monsters had about SOULs. Most except Frisk, who was human and thought of SOULs to be normal every-day things, looked at the SOUL. It was black, like any other _normal_ skeleton monster, but had cracks in them, the cracks varying in color depending on where it was on the SOUL.

“My SOUL.” Gaster chuckled, seeing the flabbergasted looks on everyone’s faces, “I forgot that monsters were sensitive about SOULs, I apologize. But back to the matter at hand, these cracks represent every other Gaster that makes up me. The red one: a dangerous and malevolent version of Gaster. Orange and blue: _your_ Gaster. Purple: a version of me where the Proxima Empire never existed. There are more, but most of them are so similar with each other that the colors just blend in with each other.”

Gaster’s SOUL disappeared into his body, and everyone relaxed.

“Oh stars,” Toriel gasped, “Does Roman know he’s..?”

“Possibly an amalgam of other Romans that the other Gasters took?” Gaster asked, “Yes.”

“Do you think Nova knows?” The monster queen pondered.

Gaster looked off to the side.

“No.” He looked at the others sternly. “Make sure that they _never_ know.”

“But they—” Asgore spoke but was quickly cut off by his former royal scientist.

 **_“No.”_ ** Gaster said, raising a hand.  


 

 

“You’ve had your happy ending. It’s time for them to have theirs.”

  


…

  


“...And now I have five amnesia-ridden humans living in my basement!” You exclaimed, your phalanges combing through the sand.

After taking a few minutes to just sit and hold onto each other, you and Roman headed down to the beach, luckily after all of these years it was still empty, this land was protected by the government of Greece. Upon heading down to the beach you told Roman what happened after he turned to dust and the Barrier was made. You didn’t enjoy how his SOUL felt more and more sorrow upon hearing your story, but he _needed_ to know, he _wanted_ to know.

He was always concerned for your well-being.

“Nova.” Roman frowned, his voice stern. “You know what Proxima Lato said about the proper way to treat a human—”

“Well he isn’t here, _is he!_ ” You snapped upon hearing your deceased father’s name.

You realized what you’d done and looked away.

“I-I’m sorry.” You apologized, “I just… I just don’t like talking about it...”

“Your friends, the humans, they remind you of the mages… Don’t they?”

  


Mages…

 

War.

 

Dust.

 

 _Death, loss_ **_fearpai_ ** **—**

  


“Enough of that Roman.” You muttered, “I don’t want to remember. Let’s talk about something else.”

“Okay, your highness.” He nodded. “So those two skeletons, who are they?”

“Believe it or not, they’re Gaster’s _kids_.” You chuckled.

“What!?” Roman exclaimed in surprise, laughing. “Our high and mighty Gaster? A _father?_ ”

“Those two are _odd_. They’re completely different from you and I, especially Sans, he doesn’t even look anything close to a skeleton monster! Papyrus well, he has potential to become apart of the Royal Skeleton Guard, but from his SOUL I can tell that he’s _too_ kind.” You explained.

“Also, since the Proxima Empire is no more, the Royal Skeleton Guard was disbanded.”

“Is everyone else really gone?” Roman asked, surprised. “ _All_ of the soldiers?”

“Dust.” You threw some sand in the air, watching as it flew with the wind. “ _No Proxima, no hope._ And the others were gone before they could teach me how to create more skeleton monsters.”

“Things truly have changed.” Roman sighed.

“Indeed, they have, Roman.” You agreed remorsefully.

Oddly enough, you felt a weight lift off from your SOUL after talking to Roman. If there was anyone to make you open up and really talk about your feelings, it would be Roman. Toriel and Asgore were also your… _consultants_ but they never really understood, not really. Even Asgore, who found out from you that his siblings were dusted by the mages, _forgave the humans!_ How could he do such a thing? To the very beings that took his family away from him?

He, like every other monster, was full of compassion and love.

“It’s late.” Roman placed a hand on your shoulder. “We should head back.”

“I wonder how they’re fairing with Gaster…” You pondered and stood up, bringing Roman up with you.

 

 

“C'mon, let’s go home.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)


	20. The Demon Inside

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Chara's life before and after death.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 1,000+ hits and 60+ kudos??? thank you guys!!  
> hope you guys enjoy this filler chapter!

_Chara never realized how frightening death was until they ate those buttercups and fell ill. They felt as if their insides were churning, their gastric senses sending signals to the brain that something was clearly wrong. And their brother, Asriel, could only watch as the weeks passed by, and their condition only worsened. When the time came, they found themselves in an inky black abyss, their SOUL the only thing in front of them._

_It was strange and unnatural. Weren’t SOULs suppose to shatter and then that would be it? Where were they? Why were they here? Why did they feel as if someone was watching them in the darkness?_

_The questions ceased as soon as Chara opened their eyes and found themselves sharing a body with Asriel. They left the mountain together, heading down to see the buttercups that were in Chara's village, planted in homage of their ancestor_ **_Antonia: the Red Mage_** _._

 _There were screams, then yells, then came the onslaught of arrows that attacked them. Chara was the first to take action, ready to use magic on the humans. To their dismay Asriel, who also had control over their body, stopped them from using his magic. Chara was furious,_ **_enraged_ ** _even, ready to drop their lifeless body just to strangle Asriel with his own hands. The humans were right there! They were a_ **_God_** _! It was the perfect opportunity to strike back._

_After all, Chara was not very fond of humans (more so of any living being in general)._

_They returned back to the Underground, Asriel’s body ready to give in, despite having two SOULs. Asriel’s body collapsed in the Throne Room, shocking King Asgore and Queen Toriel. While Asriel’s SOUL shattered and his dust scattered across the golden flowers in the Throne Room, Chara’s SOUL fell back into the Void, watching as the two royal monsters mourned after their fallen children. Chara no longer felt Asriel’s SOUL with theirs._

_Chara watched as King Asgore, the kind and caring monster, grow merciless with grief - declaring war on humans. Meanwhile Toriel took their body, fled to the Ruins, and buried it under a tree with beautiful red leaves._

_Ever since she buried Chara’s body, all the leaves that grew on that tree would fall and die. They wondered if that phenomenon had to do with their body, or maybe it was just chance that the tree was sad too. Oh well who cares, they were dead now._

_Stuck in the Void, Chara followed the descendants of the other mages, each one falling into the Underground. Albeit stuck as a phantom-like being Chara guided each one throughout the Underground. Two died from the Royal Guard (one by the Snowdin Patrol Unit, and the other from the Hotland Patrol Unit), while the other five died from the hands of Asgore. Each one of them RESET whenever they died, especially the one with_ **_perseverance_ ** _as their main trait, but eventually, they all gave up. Their determination just wasn’t strong enough._

_The next hundred years became exceedingly boring, watching other timelines pass by._

_However, there was one thing that seemed to bother them in the Void._

_That…_ **_thing._ ** _Somehow in the Void, Chara sensed that something was watching them in the shadows, something darker than the inky black abyss that was the Void. They, no_ **_IT_** _, was watching their every move, like a predator just a few feet from their prey. Chara didn’t like it, the fact that something far worse than themselves, was watching them. To escape this uneasy feeling, Chara hastily took the opportunity to leave the Void and guide the human child: Frisk._

 _Chara was surprised when Frisk started their first route nice and merciful up until they dusted Toriel. Frisk reset after that, not because they were_ **_sorry_** _, but because they wanted to see what would happen if they_ **_spared_ ** _Toriel then dusted her. Not even Chara would anticipate Frisk to commit such atrocities._

_That kid was curiosity without limits._

_Chara followed Frisk throughout the Underground, surprised when they dusted Asgore, curious at what would happen. Then came the onslaught of resets, each one having a different outcome. To be quite frank, it annoyed Chara that Frisk was taking their time in abusing their power. To their amusement however, Flowey - the SOULless husk of their deceased brother - was also annoyed by Frisk’s antics. Chara thought that the resets would never end…_

_Until Frisk decided to dust every monster in the Underground._

_They committed genocide two times. The first time ended up with Frisk giving up their SOUL to Chara, efficiently fusing their SOUL with Chara’s Void-corrupted one, a few monsters were left but most of the Underground was barren. The second time Frisk sought to find Alphys (since they never really managed to dust her in the previous route) and the monsters that hid somewhere in the Underground. Finding out that Alphys and the last surviving monsters were hiding in her True Lab, Frisk found it easy to defeat them._

_Frisk now had LV ranking up to 20, instead of 19, after dusting Alphys and the survivors._

_Although Frisk was ‘stuck’ in Sans’s turn, Chara took the reins and managed to dust the old sack of bones when he was asleep. Frisk was now under Chara’s control. They felt no remorse in destroying Flowey and they certainly felt no remorse in striking Frisk when the kid had the guts to tell Chara that they_ **_didn’t_ ** _want to reset._

_The world was reset and this time Chara was permanently stuck to the kid’s SOUL._

_They didn’t understand how Frisk was able to smile at the monsters that they dusted with their own bare hands, the monsters that they fooled and tricked. Although Chara passionately hated their own species, they truly didn’t intend to bring any harm to the monsters. They just lost that compassion over time with each reset._

_Chara was the demon inside Frisk, constantly reminding them of their mistakes and decisions._

 

_…_

 

Chara thought that they would never feel fear again after death… But they did.

Chara was there with the others when Proxima Nova pulled the former Royal Scientist out of the Void, as well as their presumably **deceased** SOULmate. Chara was skeptical at his appearance, and they assumed that ‘Roman’ was SOULless, however they could feel his magic - he had a SOUL. Chara didn’t trust him, as much as they were considered a ‘bad’ person, they felt as though this monster was more of a bad person than themselves.

It wasn’t the fact that this **deceased** monster was alive and well, that made Chara shudder in fear.

  
  
  


No.

  
  


Something, or rather some _**one**_ , was responsible for this feeling.

  
  


It was that **thing.**

 

  
  
  
  
  
  
The **demon** inside Roman’s SOUL.

 

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> what do you guys think will happen now?  
> who do you guys think is the demon? a friend, a foe, perhaps an old friend? let me know in the comments, guys!
> 
> \----
> 
> If you liked what you've read so far, please leave kudos and comments! Stay tuned for the next chapter :^)  
> My tumblr is ( solusprimes ) if you have any questions about the story! Stay determined, my lovelies! <3


	21. Update!

Q~Q confused why the status of this story says completed? Unsatisfied with the cliffhanger?

 

Sorry for the lack of updates (school has been busy and such), but I have to say that I will no longer update this story.

I'm not going to abandon this whole series all together, no.

 

 _The Judge_ was just the prelude to the comic series I'm working on.

If you'd like to see the comic and the ending to this story, I will post it on my tumblr _**[here](https://thejudge-utau.tumblr.com/)!**_

 

In the meantime here are some fics that I will post in the near future:

**1\. Proxima Karlo/Reader**

**2\. Sans/Reader**

**3\. Papyrus/Reader**

**4\. W.D. Gaster(s)/Reader**

 

All will exist in the The Judge universe, but will little-to-no interaction with Proxima Nova [unless you'd like to see interactions between Nova and the Reader]. Stay determined, and stay tuned for when I post the first part of the comic!


	22. UPDATE UPDATE!!

Oh heck sorry for being so inactive fgjdfgjdgjd Life seriously got in the way and I couldn't make up any time for it. HOWEVER! I will be rewriting this fic so keep your eyes open for updates! My tumblr has changed so you can now find me @ <https://devionyxes.tumblr.com/> I also haven't gotten into Deltarune much but I might make something related to that :^)

 

Stay determined everyone and look out for a new and improved version of The Judge!


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